My Calendar of Firsts this week:
- Lots of rainbows!
- Daisies and a squirrel in the park
- Playful sparrows
- A robin and a great tit spotted whilst on a shopping trip
- A beautiful pink sky on a frosty morning
- SNOW!
My ‘colours’ for the week, along the top left hand page, are rainbow-inspired, with hints of splashy rain!
How is your calendar coming along?
Hello Lynn,
Wow lovely rainbows, what a week of colours! Still grey and drab here really, we got a little sprinkle of the white stuff but the children were disappointed there was not enough for sledging.
Interest in the feeders has continued this week with greenfinch and blackcap making an appearance. There was an interesting article in BBC wildlife magazine about the increasing number of wintering blackcaps, who are from central Europe not our own as previously thought.
What are you doing about recording bird species where male and female are different e.g. blackcap? I have indicated male or female but then thought if I then spot a male blackcap it can’t then go on the list if I have previously recorded the female.
I have also added colour coding to the bird list, red, amber or green taken from the RSPB website. There is a current obsession with rarity in our house, my son is very interested in how much he is helping wildlife and it seems to focus on how many red and amber birds visit our feeders. The colour coding will also be interesting to look back on as the species hopefully change from red to amber to green over the years.
My Keeping a nature journal has just arrived……………..I am off to get my jobs done so I can read it looks very lovely.
Best wishes
Jenny
Hello Jenny
Yes, our snow did not last long…
I would definitely add a female (for example) to your list even if you had spotted a male already. Make your list work for you 🙂
My goodness, I LOVE your idea for adding the colour coding to your list! I am going to add that to my own – thank you for sharing such a great idea!
Enjoy Keeping a Nature Journal…I am sure you will be enthralled.
Jenny, What is the RSPB website?
Hi Mummy2six
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is one of the largest conservation charities in the UK. http://www.rspb.org.uk on their bird guides they have a traffic light coding system based on how much a species has declined in recent years. I am guessing you are in the U.S. your Audubon Society has priority species which I think may be similar.
Hope that helps, incidentally the rspb site has lots of ideas for giving nature a home which children might enjoy.
Best wishes
Jenny