coot watch

Glad to see the coot chick is still going strong, and is now almost as big as the adults (although still clearly a chick with its fluffy plumage). I now feel confident it is large enough to hold its own and not be picked off as something's breakfast. Although I had a moment of panic this morning when I could only see the adults... until I heard the now familiar peep peep (audible in some of this clip) and the chick came into view.

The one chick out of ten who made it!  The first five eggs all disappeared before hatching. I was delighted to see that the coots managed a second nestful of five, four of which hatched, one of which survives ... Here were the four who hatched out - not sure which our survivor is!

RSPB Coombes Valley

As a thank you to all the Birds Friendly Schools volunteers, the RSPB organised a trip to their reserve at Coombes Valley, near Leek, in Staffordshire.
A minicab picked up six of us from Stoke station and took us to the reserve, slowly climbing higher and higher until we had a glorious view of the Staffordshire hills. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and about 20 volunteers and their families met up to celebrate the success of the Birds Friendly Schools Project, run in the West Midlands by Anna Keen. Anna introduced us to her RSPB colleagues, some of whom were lucky enough to have a residential placement at the Coombes Valley reserve.

As soon as we arrived, we saw a nuthatch on the feeders, and two buzzards soaring overhead. Two pairs have been seen at the reserve and it is a good place for other raptors such as sparrowhawks. Goshawks and red kites have also been spotted.

Anna summarised the impact of the Birds Friendly Schools project, telling us we had reached 4000 children. This is really positive and I hope that the project can continue next year.


Guided walk
Two enthusiastic and friendly guides took half of us on a guided walk of the reserve. We looked out across the valley, as Laura told us how it been carved out by glacial floodwater, in the relatively short time of 200 years. The reserve is a great place to see pied flycatchers, wood warblers and redstarts - we weren't lucky enough this time, but there were plenty of birds in the wood singing, and we heard coal tits, jays, great tits, and a nuthatch.  The reserve is a mixture of oak woodland and meadows, and our walk took us down the hill to the main source of water, a stream, where a trout was spotted. There are also many varieties of plant, including common spotted orchid, which was by the stream side.

The reserve is home to a variety of insects, including bats, butterflies, and reptiles, weasels, otters, badgers, foxes, red deer, and grass snakes. There are an amazing 500 bird boxes around the site, including this one for barn owls, and some bat houses. There were some beautiful plants such as pink purslane and vetch.

Bug hunt

In the afternoon we were given the chance to try our hand at several outdoor activities - these things are definitely not just for children! Tina, a field studies teacher, took us to the meadow where we learnt how to hunt for bugs - it involved taking a sweep net and making several sweeping movements with it through the

long grass. When we had checked to make sure we hadn't trapped a wasp or bee, we could carefully look inside the net and discover which insects were in there. There were a lot of flies about, and we also saw some froghoppers, bugs that hop like a frog, and start life inside what is known as "cuckoo spit." Part of the woodland walk had a large area with the vegetation covered in these white bubbles, which Tina told us the froghopper nymphs produce and stay hidden inside, until they are ready to emerge as adults.


Pond dipping
We then moved on to pond dipping, which I really enjoyed. The reserve is a good place for damselflies and dragonflies and I saw several blue and red damselflies over the pond. It was great fun to scoop out some creatures with a net and to identify them from a chart, and I learnt that I had found a damselfly nymph, which you could identify from similar creatures by looking closely at its tail and head shapes.

Finally, a few of us followed Anna into the cool of the woodland and we got creative, with some clay. People who had been there before us had made some animals and faces out of clay on the trees, so I gave it a go and came up with a bug!

It was great to meet the other volunteers, and to find out how they had enjoyed the Birds Friendly Schools project as well. It is always affirming to meet with other people who care about wildlife in the same way and who appreciate what is around them, and how important it is to care for it.

If you are interested in visiting Coombes Valley, Hannah gave me a leaflet on several activities such as those we had been doing, which are coming up over the next few months, which are listed on the website. Who knows what you will see!

Buzzard encounter

I was walking Milo, the collie, in the local, beautifully secluded woodland behind the house. It is a really peaceful spot, and I value having such a natural place on my doorstep, where I can just step away from the sounds of the city (well, most of them).  Just recently I saw a buzzard there, which was very exciting, as I had not realised that they are now living in cities as well, and had not expected to see one in Birmingham.

Five minutes after arriving in the woodland, I heard the cat-like cry of the buzzard - it is distinctive, a sort of meeaw which you can hear here, at the RSPB site. All of a sudden, a bird thudded down onto the path ahead of us, flump! and for a second I thought it was a baby buzzard, fallen out of the nest. It seemed to have big feet. I soon realised it wasn't moving, so I put Milo on his lead and ventured to have a look. I could see it was dead, and on closer inspection it was clear why: it was a headless pigeon. That's right, a pigeon without a head. There was no blood gushing everywhere, so I wondered if it was something which had fallen out of the buzzard's nest. I went along the path in great excitement, and then stopped for Milo to potter in the side. There was a rustle in the trees overhead. I looked up, high, into the tall branches and there, right over my head, was the buzzard. It sat, staring down at me, those amazing eyes watching me looking up at it!  It was fantastic to see it so close-up, but in the next second it took flight and I saw its large, brown wings outstretched as it went towards the lake.

I was so excited, Milo and I ran all the way to the lake, (he just thought it was a game), and I checked with my heart beating fast that the coot chick was still visible (and not soon to follow the pigeon). It was still there, thankfully, and is getting larger - just one remains from a second clutch of five eggs, so I am glad that it survives!

I got back to the house, and after relaying my story in great excitement, I came downstairs and went into the living room. I was only in there a few seconds when I saw a baby bird on the inside of the glass, beating at the window trying to get out. It was certainly turning into a weird evening. I think it was a robin, with a speckled breast, and one has been in the kitchen before. They must come in through the back door when it is open for Milo. I quickly opened a window and it flew out, just as someone from next door was coming up the path..."Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise as a bird flew out of the window towards her. What would she have thought if she knew my nickname was bird lady!?

Bird Friendly Schools Visit 2

I hesitate to admit that my return visit to St Philip's School was at the beginning of May, but it was so good it must be blogged!

Nest site!
I was back in my guise as "Bird Lady", which I was even called by a member of staff! I was delighted to see that the year 3 children had been inspired by my first visit and had continued to keep the bird feeder filled up, and to keep looking out for birds at home and in school. It was obvious that they had been learning more, as they all seemed to know far more birds' names than before, including all the most common ones that they might see at school or at home. The girls (there were only a few of them!) had made a "nest" for birds in the school grounds and were very keen to go and show me. We went out and I had a look at the quite thoughtful collection of twigs and leaves that they had hidden together in a bush. One girl walked alongside me and said, "you know when you were last here, it was really good fun, and since then I've been wanting to learn more about birds"! Well for me, that made it all worthwhile. In fact, all of them made it worthwhile, as they were such lovely children, but she articulated it in a simple and memorable way for me. To have interested one child in nature and the world around them was my goal, but to have such a fantastic, enthusiastic response from them was wonderful.

Questions
There were lots more questions this time too: one girl asked how birds knew how to fly to places like Africa. I hope I told her something like the truth when I said we weren't exactly sure and that perhaps one day when they were older, one of them might be the one to discover the reason. The boy who had asked previously if birds were poor, asked me if birds celebrated their birthdays.

Habitats
So we recapped on the first visit very quickly and it was obvious that they knew the 6 garden birds already! I then asked them to think about habitats, ie places birds lived, and to start thinking about the different places that they could see birds. I had a picture of a town, one of the seaside cliffs, and another of lush green countryside. The children soon picked up on the idea that different birds lived in different areas, and then we began to think why.

Guess the beak!
To do this, the RSPB had provided a large felt board, to which I could stick cut out pieces of several birds. I had a heron; a kestrel, a sparrow and several others. Each was cut up into its various parts of body, beak, tail, and feet. It was the children's job to identify which part went with each bird, by finding out what it ate and where it lived, and figuring out what sort of feet or beak would suit this environment.  Actually it soon became obvious that this was easy for the children to do... They all enjoyed helping me assemble the birds.

Activities
After break we had controlled mayhem, or so it seemed to me, although it was all good, relaxed fun. Some of the children took the opportunity to go outside with one of the assistants, to look for birds, while others had some colouring and cutting from the RSPB website - there is a great section for kids of all ages with different level activities: http://www.rspb.org.uk/youth/  I thought they would like the peregrine falcon templates, as the peregrine, the world's fastest flier, is quite an exciting bird! I was able to tell them how they, and other birds of prey, have moved into the cities and live on very tall buildings, such as the University clocktower, and the BT Tower. I had the most exciting encounter at work recently, seeing the peregrine really close to as it streaked past a 3rd floor window, yellow talons flashing! Made my day...

Have a go!
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience as a Bird Friendly Schools Project person, and I hope the scheme does run next year, as it is so much fun. I would completely recommend it to anyone who has an interest in birds, as you don't need to have an in-depth knowledge, but just enthusiasm to pass on to the children, and the rewards of seeing them enjoying wildlife is just heartwarming. I think it is so important that everyone is given the same chance as me to become interested in the natural world and to benefit from the simple but rich appreciation of the creatures whom we share this world with. It is even more important that they grow up knowing why we have to protect and save the environment.

Big Schools Birdwatch - the visit!

I can't believe that I was nervous about going to volunteer for the RSPB Bird Friendly Schools "Big Schools Birdwatch" as I had the time of my life! Two boys from the Year 3 class greeted me at reception and took me to the class room, for a morning of bird fun and bird watching!

All the children were so keen to tell me which birds they already knew, and what they had seen from the window. I was impressed to see the bird feeder and the bird box hanging on a tree near the class room, and the children had already begun recording which birds they had seen outside.

I began with a quick introduction, explaining I was from the RSPB and that we would be learning about birds, and going outside to look for them. To warm up I asked each table to name 2 birds: most of them knew some garden birds already such as magpie, robin, blackbird. Others knew more unusual birds like raven. I cannot tell you how keen they were, it was wonderful to think that all these children are taking an interest in the natural world!

Then I asked who wanted to be detectives - hands shot up in the air! We could be detectives by looking at different birds, to find out which birds they were. I explained that different birds look different: we can tell what they are by looking at colour, size, where a bird is, what sound it makes, and also by what they are eating.  There were 6 birds to show the children, and I had a beautiful big colour picture of each, together with a silhouette to show the actual size, and their favourite, the RSPB soft toy bird that makes a bird sound!  So I looked at each bird in turn, pointing out the colour, the shape, what they eat, and any interesting fact about them. I was delighted that children were saying other colours, and making comments about their sharp beaks, or their skinny legs, or their long tails. And once they got the idea, they started asking me, "what noise does this one make?" and so for each bird I would produce the soft toy bird, and the children could press the bird and listen to the noise. These went down very well and everyone wanted a go, so each table had one bird to share.  The children were amazed to learn that blue tits can take their chicks 600 caterpillars a day, and that starlings mimic sounds such as mobile phones. I was really impressed that a quick question on each bird at the end showed that they had been listening and picked up main facts such as Mrs (female) Blackbird is actually brown!

Next, I explained that we would be looking at the birds outside in groups, and counting what we saw. Over 2000 schools are taking part in the Big Schools Birdwatch and the RSPB uses the information to see which birds need help and which birds are doing okay. For their survey, you have to count the highest number of birds you see at any one time, rather than counting the same birds over and over again. So there was a game to show this, but in the event of going outside, I decided it didn't really matter if the children didn't get this - it was most important to encourage them to look for birds. (It would be easier to explain the counting technique to older children. The Birdwatch is available to 7-11 year olds).  Each child was given a card showing one of the six garden birds (blue tit; robin; starling; thrush; blackbird; house sparrow). I stood at the front holding a picture of a seed feeder. When I called out one bird, children with that bird card would come to the front, to the feeder. I encouraged them to walk like that bird, or to sing like that bird.  They were very good and pretended to feed at the feeder. Miss Wilson counted them for us and put it up on the board. Finally one bird type came up twice, and we counted 8 of them in total. But in fact there were only 4 in the room - so one bright child said we'd counted them twice.  And that's what we were supposed to realise... But as I say, outside, there was too much excitement to care about counting!

So after break the children went outside in groups of 5 or 6, with clipboards and pictures of birds they might see. They were very excited to be going outside, so there was little chance of keeping them nice and quiet for birds to show up - however, they have perfect birdwatching grounds and a lovely garden area where there is the feeder and nest box, plus a bird table. Next to that was a playing field with trees at the back. And the playground was also surrounded by trees, which were good places to spot birds.  The children thought most birds were blackbirds - probably because they looked black against the sky! - so in some cases I let them think they were, if I could not see what it was, and in others I would say, it's a crow, or it's a seagull, because these are much bigger. There were 2 crows making a noise on the nearby church, so they could hear the distinctive cawing sound; then there were lots of magpies in the trees, so they could see they were black and white. One group were lucky to see a blue tit come into the tree. It was hoping to get to the seed feeder, but in our excitement we scared him off - but at least he came! We also saw some pigeons in the sky, one group thought they saw a robin, and one group saw 2 little birds on top of the school - I could not get a good look but thought they were wagtails - and explained that they wag their tails!

It was so lovely to see them all looking and all excited and they were all desperate to tell me what birds they'd seen and how they'd fed this bird at home, or seen this bird somewhere else. One boy said he'd seen a red kite, one boy must have had parents from Africa as he knew all about African birds and said how they eat them. One boy asked me if birds were poor! So I explained they didn't use money but had to find enough food each day. They were all so keen it was hard to keep up with all the hands in air, (when they remembered to do this) and I hope I gave enough encouragement to them all.

Luckily Miss Wilson was very good at keeping their attention and getting them to be quiet when they got over-excited. At times it was a bit chaotic: we were waiting for the second teacher/assistant to come back in, before we could go out bird watching and everyone was colouring in and cutting out, and having fun. Whilst the bird watching group went outside, those left inside had a bird "snapper" to make (a bird's head with snapping beak) and some birds to colour in and put on their wrists, and others were drawing pictures. (These are available on the website). Neither Miss Wilson nor I could figure out the bird snappers, which was a bit poor, but luckily the other teacher could! (I should have prepared this at home). I was really touched when one girl presented me with her picture of a blue tit, and one boy gave me his snapper to take home. One girl even said "hello bird lady!" to me at break, which was great!

To finish off, I told them I would be back after Easter, and gave each child a "hide" poster, which they could stick to the window and look through a gap in the middle at the birds; and on one side they had lots of pictures of birds to identify. One boy helped me to hand out the posters, which was really kind!

Miss Wilson was apologising that they were quite a handful and said that there were 24 boys in the class (I'd not realised until she said!) but I thought they were wonderful. It was so fantastic to see such enthusiasm and eagerness to learn and tell us about things they knew, and to have fun. When do we forget to be this excited about life!? It was actually a lesson for me as well as them! And I learnt how lovely children are and how full of life. Imagine having as much fun every day as I had today, it would transform your life! Never mind about being nervous, I can't wait to go back and see them after Easter. I thought that if I made a difference to just one child, it would be worth it, but I can see that all of them were interested in looking at birds, and were constantly telling us when they saw a bird out of the window, and I hope that they will keep doing this!

Peregrines in the city!

A flash of yellow caught my eye this morning as I saw a peregrine falcon up close and swoop by! Wow!

We are lucky enough to have a pair of peregrines on the clock tower at the University and as I was looking out from an office window on the first floor, a magnificent peregrine swooped low past the window - its bright feet made me look twice and I saw its beautiful striped body (bluey grey and white) and hooked beak. What an amazing bird! 

It then went and sat on the 12 storey Muirhead Tower, no doubt using its incredible vision to look for pigeons in this cold weather... It then swooped back past the window a couple of times. It was wonderful to see this beautiful and large falcon so clearly and so close by! My manager was with me and it provided an enjoyable excuse to talk about birds instead of work.

Falcons such as these are now nesting in cities on tall buildings and you can see them now on the BT Tower in Birmingham and at the Tate Modern in London - the RSPB runs a date with nature so you can observe these birds through telescopes.

Find out more at the RSPB website where you can see a picture of the bird and hear its cry, which I often hear from my office as it flies round the clock tower.

Nothing beats an unexpected encounter with nature like this, and I've been happy all day as a result! 

Birds friendly schools!

Although I am no longer working at the Nature Centre, I have taken on a new volunteering role with the RSPB. I will be a volunteer for the Birds Friendly Schools project in the West Midlands. This project is to tell schoolchildren all about garden birds - what they are called, what they look like, and how to help by feeding them. It involves three visits to a primary school, and works with one class of children who are between 7 and 11.

The first visit is to the school teacher, to explain how the project works and how the second and third visits will go. During the first visit, you give the teacher a nest box and a bird feeder, and some seed, so that the class can begin to start feeding the birds over winter. My first visit should be taking place over the next couple of weeks.

The second visit is in January, by which time you hope that some birds have been coming regularly to the feeder, which will be hanging somewhere in the school grounds so that the kids can see birds coming to it. The nest box should also have been put up, and birds may use it for roosting (sleeping overnight). Did you know that wrens like to roost together and you can get many wrens sleeping in one box! 

During the second visit the children do the Big Schools Birdwatch - similar to the Big Garden Birdwatch which has been going 30 years. You count the birds coming to your playground or garden for one hour, and these results help the RSPB see the population of birds nationwide; which are increasing or dropping in number. The results vary according to your local environment.

The results of your survey and the national survey form the basis of your third visit and so you can explain to the children how different birds live in different areas, and how they have different features (beaks, legs etc) according to what they eat, where they live etc.

I have attended training by the RSPB and I am very impressed by the quality and amount of resources given to me to give to the school and to use on my visits, to help make it interesting and exciting for the children. I was feeling nervous about it, but I am confident that I know a lot about the birds we are focussing on (six main ones) - and other garden birds. I have been feeding the birds in my garden, which is important in this snowy weather.  I am sure I can be enthusiastic, as I love birds, and I hope I can inspire at least one child to enjoy them too.

I am currently trying to contact the teacher at the school (in Smethwick) and arrange a time to visit. I will keep you posted with how each stage of it goes!

Time to say goodbye

It is with sadness that I report I have decided to end my volunteering at the Nature Centre. After six months I felt I have experienced a good range of tasks, and had reached a point where I was ready to move on to other things.
I really enjoyed my experience there, particularly knowing that the people I worked with were of like minds. It makes such a difference to be able to share your views and passions with people and not feel like you have to explain yourself. In the last couple of weeks, I met Sian, who is doing the Animalcare course, and who was completely on the same wavelength. She was vegetarian and against all animal cruelty, and I hope that she enjoys her experience at the Centre and gets lots out of it.

There are many volunteers now on a Sunday! I will miss the staff, as they are a great team and work very hard to look after the animals. I saw that there were lots of events on over half term, such as meet the reptiles, and design some toys for the animal enclosures. If you can get along to the Centre over winter, it is open at weekends from 10-3, and you can follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Just search for Birmingham Nature Centre. The staff are always working to enrich the animals' lives, and to make it an interesting and informative day out for the public.

Volunteering has taught me many things, including how to think logically and work methodically, and to show common sense when you are working with (the public and) animals. Luckily I never managed to lose a rodent or let the ocelot escape.
I have been privileged to work there and experience close up encounters with the lemurs, squirrels and coatis - all favourites. Not to mention my little mara, and the fast-growing rheas! I am sure I will go along in future and see how they all are.

So ... if you fancy it, why not think about becoming a volunteer in my place! Not because the government want you to, but because you want to. I recommend it.

news of new arrivals!

Wow, I'd been away 3 weeks and everything has moved round! The first thing I saw was that the goats are now where the sheep lived; the sheep are in the wallabies' old pen, and the wallabies are where the goats were.
The guinea pigs have moved into the grassy rabbit pen, and the lovely Mara has moved in with the rabbits. I think he/she is still getting used to them. I didn't realise, but the Mara squeaks just like a guinea pig! I think it is my new favourite...
We have some new arrivals! 8 rhea chicks are now where the guinea pigs used to be. They are of various sizes but will all grow to be 5 foot tall. From South America, the rhea americana eats fruit, seeds, small insects. It is a flightless bird, like an emu or ostrich, and has no tail feathers, and 3 toes on each foot. I had the enjoyable task of cleaning out their bedding, replacing the sawdust, and then spot-cleaning the enclosure. The rheas can run really fast and they were very amusing. One would pick up a stick and run really fast to the other end of the pen. Then another one would chase after it and grab the stick off it. Then I was cleaning outside the pen, sweeping the whole area, and cleaning the glass. When I was taking the soap suds off with the squeegee, the rheas were really interested, and were standing behind the glass looking at me, following the squeegee along with their heads!

In addition to that, I checked the hoofed mammals' water and replenished their hay, with Charlotte and Rosie. It is a shame, but hay and straw really do make me sneeze. In the afternoon Cath, Kate and I did the squirrels enclosure, (food, water, cleaning) and all four squirrels were darting around. They really are very appealing and such a nice colour.
We also did the pheasant and parrot enclosure - food, water and spot-cleaning. Kate was on pheasant duty with a broom, as they can attack you if you're not looking. Cath had an enviable spot next to the parrot dish - some beautiful coloured parrots were flying very close to her and picking the nuts out, to crunch. They also have a mixture of fresh fruit, seed etc.
Cath and I spot-cleaned the tortoise enclosure (they didn't seem to mind), and swept round the monkeys and the mammal house (the monkeys were very interested. I had aching shoulders the next day: you can tell I am getting some exercise).
There are 2 baby meerkats! It is nice to see the animals breeding as it means they must be happy with their environment. The baby meerkats are tiny and have little squashed faces. There was also a new sugar glider waiting to have a companion to live with; it had been donated by one of the public.

Big Excitement!
Cath and I were going to put the rabbits and mara to bed, and it was just about 5pm, so everyone had left. We were walking past the beaver, saying it was hardly ever out, when lo and behold, I realised that the beaver was in the corner of the enclosure, near us! He/she is quite a large mammal, like a small dog, with an  appealing face, and sleek brown fur. The tail is large and thick and dark, and you could see a scaly pattern on it. We were very excited. The beaver turned round, ambled over to the water, and dived in. It then had a leisurely swim up and down, and looked quite content. It was really lovely to see it swimming, and we realised it must prefer to be out of the public eye. It shares the enclosure with a ne ne (hawaiian goose), many of which you can see at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetland trust.

I was very pleased to be back, and although there seemed to be lots of volunteers this weekend, it was still very nice to see some familiar faces (human and animal).
Photos to follow.

monkey magic

1st August - after a happy chat to Colin about the delights of camper vans, he said I could accompany him on the monkey round. We started at the new tamarins house, and Colin explained that he had to check the temperature daily; it is kept in the twenties. He emptied a bowl of water over the leaves to keep the air humid. I had to keep next to him, to make sure the monkeys were not disturbed by an extra person being in there. There were four monkeys, one behind us up on the ledge above the window, which is his favourite place.

The next stop was the Goeldi's which are two parents and two babies: apparently baby Goeldis are hard to breed in captivity, so Colin was very pleased that these had survived. He seemed particularly fond of them. I had to stick by him again, and I gave the monkeys a bit of banana. The female also enjoys the special gum that is part of their diet.
It was very nice to go in to see them, as I have not done this before. Colin asked me to clean out their indoor quarters; they were shut in the outside enclosure while I did this, and as soon as I'd finished I was to tell Colin, so that he could open their hatch again. The monkeys would not survive if they were left out in the cold at night. To clean their enclosure, I had to scoop up their sawdust from the floor and any shelf area, and then wipe down all the walls with a mild disinfectant. It was quite warm in there, so with the door shut for safety, I was quite hot by the end of it.
I went along to the small mammals house to help Rosie and Joe, two new volunteers. We were giving the rodents a spot clean, then swept and vacuumed the floor, as sawdust goes everywhere. The afternoon was quite easy, with all three of us weeding the ecology garden. It did not need much weeding but was nice and easy, and Rosie, Joe and I had a nice chat about what it is like being a volunteer. Joe was there all week on work experience.
The day ended with us putting the animals away - I delegated to Rosie and Joe, and then we attempted to put Sid away but he was hissing as usual and we did not have any protection. On crying to Colin that it was too hard, he laughed at us and said, put him away! take a broom, so with a broom in hand, Joe did a great job of steering the hissing bird towards his shed. It was quite a result.


8th August - it was a really hot, muggy day, so luckily I was not asked to do anything too physical. I started in the small mammal house: Kate apologised that it was boring, but the rodents need doing, and I am quite used to them. I made the effort this time to work a bit faster, but it still took all morning. There are a lot of rodents. I did an almost full clean of the off-shows, and talked a bit more to the rats, for stimulation. I also became brave and stroked one, and it did not mind at all.  The lemmings are funny: they can be nestling quietly in a corner and when I reach in to disturb their sub-strate (bedding), they all rush to the front, and try to escape. I had to make sure the main door is shut while I do this, in case any leap out. One mouse nearly tricked me by leaping on top of another mouse's back and making a bid for freedom.  The baby rats had grown and were now like mini adults; very sweet.

I also cleared out the off-show degus, the chinchillas and the tenrecs (who bite, but were fast asleep). I did the on-show waters. Pippa, the ground squirrel, had been gnawing at her hatch and pushing the bedding out each day, so Kate had moved her off-show and explained that she was hoping to get a larger enclosure, with a friend or two for Pippa. We are both fond of her: she is very appealing.
In the afternoon I filled the bird feeders with bird seed, and learnt of Colin's new plans for a "walk through" section in the new Mouse Lemurs section. (They were hiding so well during the week that they had to be looked for). It sounds good. He explained that he did most of the maintenance at the Centre, and I have seen the staff creating fencing, sawing, hammering etc, as well as taking care of the animals. 
I topped up the soay sheep water (managing not to let the ram see, and avoiding being butted) and then it was time to put the animals away. I met Kate coming away from Sid's pen, and kindly she'd done him for me... Perhaps spending so much time with the rodents has its advantages :-)

Moth count and Bat Walk!

Moth Count

On Saturday, various groups in the West Midlands had got together to organise a Moth Count and a Bat Walk round Cannon Hill Park and the surrounding area. There was a magnificent turnout of about 50 people, including lots of ultra keen children, who were really excited by seeing the moths and bats.

It was an all-night event, although you could leave when you wanted, and unfortunately this time I was not able to stay late, but I am looking forward to hearing about future events.

A national expert on moths, Dave Grundy, began by talking to us about moths and butterflies and passing round moths to look at. There were some enormous ones (an old (dead) death's head hawk moth) and a tiny one, no bigger than a pinhead! There were moths that looked like twig ends and bits of bark. In the Victorian era, people pinned out all the butterflies and moths they found; now we trap and study them and release them back into the wild again. Many moths were named by well-off Victorians, who named them after things around them. Hence you have moths with names such as footman, carpet moth, tapestry, and pistol-case bearer moths.

Dave traps moths every Friday night in his back garden, or further afield, and studies them. He talked about the perceived differences between moths and butterflies: that people like butterflies because they are pretty, but don't like moths because they are brown and boring and come out at night. But apparently some butterflies are out at night and some moths are out during the day. Not all butterflies are bright, but some moths are colourful. Moths hide away in trees, bushes, and so on during the day to avoid predators (birds, bats etc). People think moths eat their clothes, but with the increased use of synthetic fibres, this is increasingly unlikely, and any moths you do find in your house might be quite rare. He encouraged us not to keep sheds ultra clean and tidy, and then we might find some moths living there.

Moths and butterflies are lepidoptera - the tera part meaning they have wings. The wings have scales on them. There are thousands of species of moths in the UK and around 60 species of butterfly. Basically, Dave tried to make us see that moths and butterflies are the same: there was no one characteristic that you could use to distinguish something as a moth and another as a butterfly.

Moth trapping and counting can give us a good idea of what species there are, and how many there are of them. Dave was going to set up the moth traps and then return to them later in the evening: he was going to be there literally all night. You too can study the moths in your own garden, and the more rural area you live in, the more you are likely to see. Moth traps have a light which attracts the moths; they fly in and then you can have a look at them, before releasing them again. You can also attract moths by leaving your bathroom light on and the window open and they will fly in.  I asked Dave why moths are attracted to the light - he said, surprisingly, that scientists are not sure about the answer to this question. It could be something to do with moths navigating by using the moon!

To find out more about moths visit www.opalwestmidlands.org or http://ukmoths.org.uk
Garden moths scheme: http://gms.staffs-ecology.org.uk/

Big Butterfly Count http://bigbutterflycount.org/

Click here to see the results of the moth count!   193 sighted!

(oce)lots of work

This week was very busy; I started by letting out the rabbits, guinea pigs, turkey and peacock, and I replenishing their water and food, taking back the old food bowls and washing them up. The guinea pigs are so funny when they get their food: they start squeaking as soon as you arrive with the carrots and other veg. Imagine 18 guinea pigs squeaking, it is a lovely welcome. I slopped half the bucket of water down me, as usual, and had to get half way inside the rabbit hutch to get the food bowl out.

I then did the water for all the small mammals - "on shows and off shows" - there were some desert hamster babies: tiny pink things. The sugar glider was in the corner again and looked up at me with wide eyes! There are some tiny new rainforest frogs off show: beautiful colours - one is bright, bright green.

The rest of the day was cleaning up: spot cleaning (ie scooping up poop) in the sheep, goats and wallabies, - this time with new volunteer, Holly, who was really nice, and is doing the volunteering off her own bat, which is impressive. We got on well and it was nice to have company again as I was beginning to miss Ariane. We ended the day by cleaning all the windows round the "pred" block; which gave us a nice chance to look at the lemurs, the red squirrels, and the ocelot, who was curious enough to follow us round and come right close to the glass. She really is beautiful.

One thing I observed at lunchtime: there are notices (although rather small) that ask the public not to feed the animals. This is because the animals get the food that they require, and feeding them random things might not be good for them. But in spite of this, a whole gaggle of kids and parents were busy feeding leaves to the soays, which seemed happy enough to eat them all up. What I thought was a bit much was how some of the dads were pulling whole branches off trees and dividing them up... Well if the sheep are ill it was half their own fault for being greedy...!

Sheep comparison

There are 5 types of sheep at the Nature Centre - I bet you never realised that!

My favourite (if I had to choose) are the Mouflon - probably because the two Mouflon lambs are just beautiful with their caramel coloured coats. They are a rare species, and originally came from the islands of Corsica, Sardina and Cypress, where they live in mountainous/rocky areas.  The male mouflon at the Centre has a good pair of horns and has been separated from his two females and the two lambs as he can be quite defensive and start butting both them and people. He went for Alex once and apparently the visitors cheered the ram on!

Soay
The Soay are a larger group, with dark brown wool. The male also has horns and can run at you if it is defending the lambs. There are 7 or 8 lambs, and I was told that the sheep weren't so great at keeping them clean and the staff have to make sure that their wool is not matted or messy. Originally they come from the isle of Soay. Its ancestry is thought to go back earlier than other sheep. Soay means Island of Sheep in Norse.

Icelandic and Jacob sheep
There are 2 icelandic and one jacob sheep who are in the first enclosure when you arrive. They have thick wool and the jacob sheep has spots. They have recently been sheared and look tremendously different without their fleeces!

Cameroon
Two cameroon sheep (both males) live near the entrance. They are a beautiful browny tan colour; one has horns and the other does not. Their bleat is very distinctive, quite low and loud. They are, of course, from Africa. They are a bit more goat-like in appearance, with short fleeces and long faces.

Coati Monday

The title is a pun on coatimundi, the full name for coatis. Today I learnt that there are loads of them at the Iguacu waterfalls on the border of Brazil / Argentina.  They have become tame, and run up to everybody  and try to get into your bags and pockets to get food! I think ours would take your finger off if you tried to get too close.

Tomorrow at the Nature Centre there is an inspection by a group that will allow the NC to join in further participation in breeding programmes etc. So yesterday, instead of staff trying to find tasks for us to do, they were lining them up. While I was doing a task for Neil, Kate came along to borrow me, and when I had just started Kate's task, Colin had one ready for me. So it was all go.  Ariane seems to have finished, which is a shame because we did not have chance to say goodbye. :-( (It's more fun having another volunteer to work with, so get volunteering!.)

I started off filling up various water troughs - first the mouflon (the lambs are growing up and look gorgeous with their caramel coloured wool), then the wallabies. I gave this trough a good scrub inside and out with a scourer. Thankfully there are various taps and hoses round the centre, so I do not have to walk far with buckets of water. When I do carry water around I invariably slop half of it down my leg, and over the ground.  The cameroon sheep also got a clean trough of water.

After that, it was over to the small mammals house (formerly rodent house), where I was given the extensive task of a full clean of the "off shows", ie the rodents behind the scenes. This involved emptying each tank of sawdust, water bowl, etc and dipping it in a bucket of soapy water, then drying it off. There are about 24 tanks of mice, including some empty ones, and then another lot of rats, and the mad lemmings (forever jumping up and nibbling their bars). It took me ages. It involved transferring the rodents into a fresh tank, before cleaning their tank. This took some doing, as some of them were not keen to go into the holding tube, to be moved into the new tank. They are so fast and tiny, the priority is not to lose any. I felt quite bad disturbing the sleeping dormice, but they are absolutely beautiful, with short tufty tails.  It was far harder to move the rats - they did not want to be picked up, and they did not want to move, and who am I to argue. One lot had babies - tiny blind pink things.

Once this mammoth task was over, I had to do the water in the "on-shows"- those in the tanks viewed by the public. Pippa, my favourite ground squirrel, was full of life and came up to the hatch to try to nip me (thanks, Pip!) There are 4 beautiful tiny harvest mice, who scurried away when I reached in for the water. And when I opened the hatch of the bizarrely named "sugar glider", its furry face and big eyes were right next to me! (pic: wikipedia)  Apparently they eat sweet sap and, like "flying" squirrels, glide through the air!

I was pleased to see the new arrivals on show: two large African Spurred Tortoises, and the mouse lemurs - so called because they are tiny! They are also nocturnal. Come and visit them!

I ended the day on a high: after putting the rabbits, peacock, turkey and delightful guinea pigs to bed, I braved Sid the goose (with a broom for safety). Sid must be getting used to me, as he walked obediently to his house. Little did I realise the door was shut, so he waddled off, and we had to have a second go, but in he went! No hissing, no attacks... I was very pleased :-)

Sacred Ibis

In the previous post, I was asked in the comments why the ibis are sacred. I had never questioned it, but it is really interesting to find out the answer, and to read more about these graceful birds.

"This species is now extinct in Egypt where it was venerated in ancient times. The ancient Egyptians believed that their god Thoth sometimes came to earth in the form of a Sacred Ibis. Thoth, a scribe of the gods, was the inventor of writing and measurer of time who symbolized wisdom and knowledge. This ibis is depicted in many murals and mummified specimens are common in burial places; over 1.5 million birds were found in one group of tombs."


This is from the Oakland Zoo website (California) http://www.oaklandzoo.org/ which has many interesting pages on its own animals.

Another blog reader sent me a link to information about mummified ibises, which you can see at the British Museum website, with a fascinating photo. And here is an image of Thoth, taken from Wikipedia.

Predator Round

I have meant to update before now but have not been for a fortnight, and for the last couple of visits I have done many of the usual things: rodents, sheep, etc. Alex has finished and I think Ariane can't have long left either.

Today's visit though was thoroughly worthwhile and very enjoyable. Due to mad-sounding staff issues, courtesy of the Council, it sounds like not all of the staff may be able to stay on. So, presumably as a caution, Colin let me go on the "predator round" with Sam today, so that I have experience of that.  Firstly I cut up and weighed out a selection of fruit for the lemurs, that would be a nice fruit salad for me and you.
It is done to a strict order, and there is a sheet which you can follow to ensure that everything is done. First of all we went to the sacred ibis, and I swept out their water pool and gave them their food. Sam saw to the lynx, as volunteers are not allowed in with them. Then on to the otters - there are 5 of them and they were squeaking as soon as they saw us coming. There are various tasks to perform in each enclosure: replacing water and food bowls with new ones; replacing bedding or spot-cleaning the enclosure for droppings and litter; cleaning the windows. As I was cleaning the windows, I felt something nudge my ankle. Looking round, I found four otters lined up behind me, curious as anything, and one started biting my trainer. Sam said to shoo them away but they kept coming back!
We also fed the coatis. These 3 south american animals are very appealing and made tiny squeaky noises. They too were inquisitive and ran round looking at me, as I looked for droppings. I'd scattered their food around the enclosure, and they were busy running round finding bits to crunch.
There is a whole block of "preds" so you can go from one enclosure to another, within the safety of a secure corridor. Sam did the ocelot, a female, and then I cleaned the windows in the wildcat enclosure, barn owls, and ring-tailed lemurs. We gave the lemurs bits of banana - they are a family of 3 and they came right over. They have very bright orange eyes, grey fur and dark stripy tails and were making a sort of gulping noise.
After the lemurs, the meerkats. They are much smaller than I think, and, like the otters, were curious enough to come up behind me while I tried to clean the windows, and nip at my shoes! I could hear people on the other side of the glass making remarks about the meerkat on the advert...
More than one person today joked to their child that I was a human in an enclosure, as it seemed like that to them from their side of the glass. Sam said it stopped being funny quite quickly. I thought that people were more interested in watching me clean the windows than looking at the animals...
After sweeping the predator corridor, the next part of the round is the bald-headed ibis. These too make an interesting noise. Two tragopan (tragg-o-pan) share their enclosure: the male is brightly coloured, while the female is darker (the usual in the bird world).  I removed droppings, and also feathers. It was tempting to keep one: they look dark but have a beautiful green sheen.

In the afternoon, I would have happily helped out again but Neil asked if I could do the wallabies. I topped up various animals' water (it's been a hot weekend) and then cleared out the (smelly) wallabies. I saw something moving in the straw! I realised it would not be anything scary, and moved the straw to one side to see. It was a big shiny black beetle - presumably a dung beetle! I left it to get on.

I do not understand the council for the proposed methods of cutting costs; the staff are all very dedicated and knowledgeable and work hard. I realised that I could not keep my own field of animals (which was once my dream) without having many staff and/or volunteers. Plus I have discovered that working with straw makes my eczema itch and my lungs feel like I can't breathe. So that's a pain! But finding out more about the predators this morning and getting close to them was really interesting and I feel privileged to be allowed in with them. But of course, anyone who volunteers can also have this opportunity.

Week 12

I discovered that both Ariane and Alex were not coming in - I think they both have exams - so this left just me, as Amy has now moved to Wednesday.  I spent the day helping Kate, so it was back to the newly done "small mammals" house, to help out there. I was to give them all clean water, make the substrate (bedding/flooring) look nice, and clean the inside and outside glass of the tanks on display.  The behind-the-scenes rodents have now all moved across from the schoolroom to the small mammals, and this is much better than the temporary place they had before. The smaller mice had new homes. After I had realised I had a leaky bucket of water, and taken it back, I soon replenished the water and moved on to the animals on  display.

It proved much harder than I thought to clean the glass inside the tanks- each has a hatch that you can open at the back, but it was not easy to reach across with the squeegee to the front - sometimes bits of twig got in the way, and other times I was worried about letting the rodent jump out and escape. There is the added fun of the public watching you, and most times I felt I had made the glass worse than before I started.

The funniest thing was when I got to the tenrecs- the madagascan hedgehogs. There are several of them, and I  was confident they were not going to escape, as they were sitting quietly, so I opened the hatch, reached across, and cleaned the glass easily. I withdrew my hand, and began to close the hatch door. Only when it started to swing shut, I realised with horror, that it had a small shelf on the inside, and on that shelf there was a tenrec! I had swung it out over the floor, cleaned the glass and swung it back in before realising! The poor thing. This really gave me a funny turn, and I had to be really careful with the rest of them. Even lovely Pippa, the ground squirrel, looked keen to escape, so I had to give her glass a miss.

On the outside, it was much easier to clean, and I could see where I needed to go back and clean the inside...I saw the Gambian pouched rat - we are not allowed to open this rat's hatch, as it is half blind and might bite. It was quite big, and looked like it could barely see.

At lunchtime, I had a look at the coatis - they really are fast becoming a favourite of mine. They are so appealing and were quite active, so I watched them running around and up and down the trees.

In the afternoon, I was cleaning the glass in the invertebrate house. I have not been in here as a volunteer, and I was a bit freaked out by the size of the salmon pink tarantula.(Apparently, she can be a bit grumpy!) I told myself not to be daft, as it was behind glass, and was not going to "get me!" so I cleaned the glass (there are also cockroaches, a smaller tarantula, giant snails, and more!) I had to clean it very gently so as not to disturb the creatures, or dislodge the tank.

I also had to do the squirrel enclosure, where luckily half of it is sheltered, as it absolutely bucketed down!

The new tortoises and lemurs have not arrived yet.

Week 11

Week 11 was baking hot and Colin had the good sense to say we could wrap the top of our overalls round our waist; I spent the entire day cleaning out stables and enclosures.
First of all, Toby and I cleared out the pygmy goats' bedding - they are quite calm and let you get on with it, while they go and eat grass. I found that their straw had loads of bits in it, and the whole thing made me sneeze for ages. After we'd finished, we found Neil, to ask for a new task, and I mentioned that I thought I had a straw allergy. Not ideal when you're volunteering there, but perhaps there is a face mask for next time.
After our break, I was expecting Toby to come back and join me in the sheep paddock - the usual thing of clearing up the poop with a couple of short handled shovels. Not a bad job, but it gets so hot in the sun that I was tempted to join the sheep in the shady corner. Toby never appeared, and I learned later that he only does 2 hours in the morning - surely it is hardly worth coming  in for, but that is not to say that he doesn't work hard when he is there.
A baby blue tit had fallen out of its nest or tree, and was on the ground by the sheep pen. A visitor asked me about what to do with it, and I realised that as a worker, the public expects you to know what to do with all animals. I thought that you are supposed to leave baby birds  alone, so that their parent can come back to them. When humans touch them, I believe it can put them off. Anyway, I later saw a man lift it up and throw it back into the tree, which seemed to work, so what do I know.
More stables followed, with Ariane and I cleaning out the mouflon hut - luckily the ram is next door, and we got to see the 2 lambs, who are growing fast and a gorgeous caramel colour.
Later that day, we went to investigate what Alex was doing with Colin and the others. They were preparing a small hut near the ibis, for the promised new arrivals of giant tortoises and mouse lemurs. Apparently the latter are nocturnal, so it is debatable how much of them the public will see...

Week 10 - an auspicious day

Week 10 began with the rodents! yey, they must know me well by now. I was working with Toby, who I'd not met before - he said he'd been there 4 weeks but had always ended up doing things on his own. He seemed a sensible lad, doing his Duke of Edinburgh, and just GCSE age. Toby hadn't done the rodents before so it was new for me to be able to tell a volunteer what to do, instead of the other way round.

The rats didn't take long with two of us, so after that we did the squirrels (changing the food, water and spot-cleaning). I over-confidently said to Toby that the red squirrels were very shy and we'd be lucky if we saw one. Neil was doing the owls next door and they were flying about, in a fluster, so I think this disturbed the squirrels. Whilst we were both in the middle of the enclosure, one popped out of its nest box, and started scurrying, really quickly, and nimbly, all over the walls. It even stopped upside down on the ceiling. It was a really wonderful experience; although the squirrel isn't in the wild, it was still beautiful to see it so close at hand, and to watch it, motionless, as it ran about the enclosure. It has really tufty ears (I could not help thinking of Squirrel Nutkin) and a lovely bushy tail. Toby was equally as thrilled, and I, of course, had to take back everything I'd said.

We had a long break, and then I went to the rodent house. This has now been renamed "small mammals" as I think it has a larger variety of animals in there. I had to give each rodent enclosure fresh food and water. From the back, each area is accessible from 2 small hatches, which open in the back panel which the visitors can see. A couple of times I made someone jump, by an arm and face suddenly appearing out of nowhere - I've experienced this as a visitor too! I had to carefully locate the rodent, or small mammal, and then make sure it wasn't about to jump out of the hatch. Each animal had a different food mix, all cleverly stored in those plastic containers you can put cereal in, each with a cup with a different "fill" level, to show how much food you should put in. With the water, I discovered my bucket was leaking, which wasn't helpful! The little harvest mouse was up in one corner, looking across at me with its beady but adorable eyes! One animal, the gambian pouched rat, is not accessible unless you are a senior keeper, as it can be quite vicious. It was nice to see the four-toed hedgehog and tenrecs settled in, and Pippa the ground squirrel is in there too.

After I had finished up here, Sam came to check I was ok, and then it was lunch time. We had a nice long lunch in the sun. There was a steady stream of visitors, as ever.

In the afternoon, we helped Neil out by moving some items from one shed to another, and then we did various small tasks such as sweeping up some bark. It was quite an easy afternoon really so we were happy to enjoy the weather. I had heard earlier that morning on the radio that Hindus thought it was an auspicious day, and so I had a sneaking feeling it would be lucky for me too. Sure enough, as Ariane and I were heading back to the kitchen, what should we see but the elusive beaver, out in the sunshine, munching something. I have to admit, I was very excited. I could not believe it really existed. We even saw it again on the way back from somewhere.

The day ended by putting the animals away, it always seems a shame when people are still walking round looking at them. The woman and her son who were looking at the guinea pigs were amazed (as I was) that the guinea pigs all trot into their house at night, without much encouragement! She said her boy should take note and go to bed when he is told! There is always one grey guinea pig who tries to hide, and this time hid under the little ramp into the house!

Week 9

Ariane and I began by letting out the turkey and peacock (who displayed his tail quite beautifully), guinea pigs and rabbits. All 7 soay lambs were out in the field, looking delightful. We swept all around the guinea pig area, and then fetched a bucket and cleaned all the glass and the windows around the guinea pig enclosure. There are always sticky finger marks to wipe off! Then it was breakfast time for them all, and the guinea pigs started squeaking in unison - it was quite funny. I distributed cabbage leaves and carrots, and left them their dry food in their house - Kate explained the guineas have food with vit C because, like us, they cannot make their own vit C.

We had a nice break, sat in the sun, and everyone was quite chatty this week. Amy was tired but she was being quite amusing, and Alex was chatty too. I suppose now we are comfortable enough with each other to chat quite easily.

Our next task was the rodents. Ariane and I and fed, watered, and cleaned them out. One rat was determined to escape, and nearly made a successful attempt, so we left this one and I told Kate we'd not been able to do it, and she did not mind. I swept the floor and we took the rubbish sacks to the skip.

I had a look round at lunchtime and discovered that the mouflon have had their lambs! Two lovely caramel coloured lambs, who are already quite big. They stayed towards the back, as if they were shy of the public.

In the afternoon, we took some sacks of birdseed back to the rodent house, and then went round and filled up all the feeders. Following a successful ploy we had used earlier in the day, I distracted Sid the goose by standing in front of him, on the other side of the fence, whilst Ariane went round the back and nipped over the fence. She was then able to fill two feeders that hang in his enclosure. I signalled to her when it was safe to move! We felt quite smug to have tricked him. The alternative is upsetting him so he runs at you and attacks... 

Amy was all smiles because she had had the chance to feed a lemur. She and Alex had been working with Colin, a full time member of staff, who had returned to work after having an operation. He seemed glad to be back, and was very friendly and chatty, asking about where I worked and saying he had been there 25 years. It sounds like there is a bit of politics that comes from the council (who run the centre), so not much different from the university really... We were all in the kitchen, chatting, and I was cleaning out a particularly gungy bird feeder. Alex had to get 2 frozen rabbits out of the freezer and was trying to fit them into the box but one rabbit's ears were too long! It was the first time we've been allowed near meat or food, so perhaps Colin has the authority to let us do a few different things.

Still no sign of the beaver: one man asked me where the lynx were, as he'd been five times and never seen them. This is the same for me and the beaver. I think he was too early - the lynx were all out by the afternoon. 

Lastly we went to the soay sheep to replace their bedding; Colin said he wanted to keep it nice and fresh for the lambs. We shovelled up the straw and muck and hay, and replaced it with fresh straw and new hay for eating. When I returned with the hay, Amy and Ariane were away at the skips. The ram came to investigate, and went for me - I put the bag of hay between me and him and he butted that instead. Thank god I had it! He did this again, when, luckily, Amy and Ariane returned, so I had back-up.

Once we had finished we headed back for more duties, but Kate had already put the animals away, so we were free to go a bit earlier.

I was told about some mentions of the new animals at the NC on Twitter, so I followed this up and contacted the tweeter - happily there seems to be a lot of devoted nature centre fans, who have been really positive about the blog and suggested ways of getting involved. I am hoping to post a video clip they have of the otters, and also find out more about setting up a Flickr account for the Nature Centre! The NC goes Web 2.0!