Welcome to week 11 of our one year pond study. For the rest of the posts in this series please see here.
Here is the story of our pond this week:
This Heron looked to be an older bird and I checked through our photos of the other Heron and his markings around the face are slightly different
One of my goals by the end of the year is to do one of our papier-mache maps of the pond, which all of us really enjoy making (any excuse!) To do this accurately, the children and I needed to identify some of the plant and tree species growing around the pond.In a quest to discover some more the children chose one tree each (ensuring they were different from the others) and completed the tasks I had typed up:
- Do a bark rubbing of a tree, place in the Ziploc
- Pick a few leaves off the tree and place in Ziploc
- If possible break a small twig (with the tree’s blossom or buds) off the tree and place in Ziploc
- Wander around the circumference of the pond noting on the map where any others of the same species are situated
- Once home do a print of the leaf by hammering it onto a piece of paper
- Attempt to identify the chosen tree
And all our bounty:
Between us, using this key, we managed to identify the trees as a willow and we think a cherry plum blossom, although I reserve judgement on this one, as it has not flowers or fruit yet and so it was hard to tell.We then made a mini book containing all we had collected. This will be placed in our journal page at the end of May.
We’re just heading off to our pond – glad i read your post, im grabbing a ziploc bag now! The tree identifier is just what i was looking for – thanks for all your inspiration as ever!
No problem, enjoy your pond!
I have never seen a more beautiful pond, for sure. I am loving this series.
Thanks Phyllis.
Thank you for sharing this. Also thanks for the reminder about Shadowlands.
My pleasure, Beth!
Ooohhh, I love the idea of mapping it and building it up. I might have to try that.
I wonder if your link is specific to UK, now to check that out.
Re link- I’m not sure, sorry!
The heron does look more straggly than the other one. Maybe you’ve got a pair and soon you’ll be seeing lots of baby herons!!
He, he! Wouldn’t that be grand!!
What a lovely pond. I love the pic of the heron. They really remind me of dinasours 🙂
Dinosaurs? I smiled when I read that, and then of course I had to go and check out the picture, and your right there is a resemblance!!
Thanks for visiting!
I love the things you find to do from your pond. Some more great ideas, please do share them on Country Kids too.
Will do, thanks Fiona, I’ll link up tomorrow!
Great idea, we used to do what we called ‘bud watch’ observing one tree from winter through to spring and summer as we walked past it everyday. It’ll certainly make the seasons much more tangible. And, leaf hammering is on our to do list. Thanks for stopping by the Outdoor Play Party
We’re also observing a tree by the pond over the year. It’s been a great experience!