This week’s post comes to you from my sick bed. I am really unwell this week with a horrid virus; the usual symptoms of headache, blocked sinuses, earache, etc. Ugh. As you may remember, my dad was very poorly and had to spend Christmas week in hospital, which was so very worrying. Now my poor mother in law is very poorly too, and I think it has just been too much for my immune system.
So unfortunately I had to cancel our usual Monday nature walk to see our local pond in winter, which was this week’s theme from Exploring Nature With Children.
Instead I set Rose about studying the tiny wee ‘pond’ we have in our garden. It is beyond tiny, but hosts the mating ritual of many frogs and toads each spring. By coincidence Rose found this little fella on the lawn on Sunday night
The girls had forgotten to put away our guinea pigs, Nibbler and Prince Albert for the night and Rose remembered them at around six o’clock. As you can imagine, it was pitch black outside and she went running out with a torch. Fortunately, she spotted this little fellow on the grass before he was trampled, and was able to return him to the safety of the pond edge. It is very early for us to be spotting the amphibians of our garden, but the weather has been exceptionally mild (and wet and windy!)
Rose took this photo of our pond the next day, and took some water samples, which she inspected with our microscope that links up to the computer.
Here is her nature journal entry for this week
Elianna decided to use the opportunity to work on a project she is just beginning. She is researching fashion from 1900 to the current time, focusing on a famous person who represents the fashion of each decade. We enjoyed a trip out to the Manchester Gallery of Costume last week, to kick-start the project.
Well, that’s all for now. Do let me know what you are up to!
sorry to hear you’re unwell. You’ve had a stressful time recently.
thanks for sharing what you’ve been up to…..a microscope that connects to the computer….I think that will go on our wish list for a birthday/Christmas! Seven year old son would LOVE it!
get well soon
xx
Hi Lynn
Poor you, hope you feel better soon, and your mother in law too.
Rose has done a good job, lovely pond we are hoping to put in a similar one in the “new” garden. There seems to be so much to look at in a pond. We have frogs in the garden but haven’t spotted any yet but then we haven’t been in the garden much.
We went for our walk to our study pond, everything is looking a bit old and battered, the pond was under a layer of ice when we visited so that brought on a good discussion about how creatures survive when the surface freezes. We did spot some rabbit holes which we hadn’t seen before, they weren’t new just couldn’t see them with all the vegetation grown up. More and more birds are singing, my son is hoping to learn more birdsong this year, a challenge he has set himself. So to help with that we have been listening to Brett Westwood on the BBC radio iPlayer.
Looking forward to spring, I am getting fed up with winter now, some snow might perk things up though 😉
Best wishes
Jenny
Thank you Jennifer for your kind words.
Your son has set himself a great goal! Well done to him.
Agree with you on the snow…it feels like we have had one very long autumn x