Speedwell Trust visit P4

On Tuesday 25th of February, P4 children were delighted to welcome Stephen and Sue from the Speedwell Trust. 
They shared information about birds that make their home in our local environment.

At the beginning of the session, the children were given an opportunity to examine a few species of birds. The children were tasked with noting differences in shape, size and colouring of them.

When the observation session was completed, Stephen shared information about the birds. Their colouring, feet shape, claw size, beak shape, personal bird song and about their diet.

We discovered that

• the Song Thrush is a great mimic. It can copy the sound of a telephone ring, enjoys snails and makes its home in hedgerows.

• the Malard duck enjoys meals of green algae and pond weed. The male is much more colourful than the female and that ducks can waddle, swim and fly.

• a Buzzard is a bird of prey (catches small animals and feeds on these). it has very strong hooked beak which it uses for tearing. It hovers in the air and then dives down to pounce on its prey.

• The Blue Tit resembles a Ninja as it is very acrobatic and they have a black mask like colouring around their eyes. These birds love to hang upside down and their favourite food is caterpillars. Yummyyyy!!
• The Great Tit  is bigger in size than the Blue Tit, it has a yellow chest with a black divider down the centre.
• the Wren is the smallest of these birds. 
• The swallow has forked tail feathers. It migrates to Africa, where it will spend winter in a warmer place and more importantly, where food is plentiful. The swallow returns to Ireland in spring.

Next Sue and Stephen did a craft where each group made an information chart. This was brilliant because the children in each group had to read the information and then match it to a picture of that bird.

After that there was a Bird Quiz on the IWB  and finally they were ready to go outside and do some actual bird watching.
The rules of successful Bird watching are:  be quiet so you don't frighten the birds away     don't move about too quickly    and be patient

Sue gave each child a pair of binoculars, they used these to check on birds in our local area.
 As our school grounds boasts a lot of trees and hedgerows it was very easy to spot the birds.

P4 saw a dove, 2 crows , 1 blackbirds, 1 blue tit and a few robins.

Stephen said that P4 were very good 'Twitchers', this means Bird Watchers. We are very lucky to have Parkanaur not too far from school.
Stephen said that Parkanaur has many birds living among the trees and hedgerows. He suggested that the next time the children visit Parkanaur, they should take a look out for birds. They may be surprised at how many they can name.

Finally we chatted about ways that we can help the birds in our garden during winter when food may be scarce.
We told Stephen that lots of us feed the birds and leave out water for them.
Stephen and Sue thanked P4 for the care that they give to the birds.

P4 really enjoyed the visit and learnt so much about birds that live in our area.