When we arrived we were welcomed by Carol and John who told us all about the different habitats at Leighton Moss – reed beds, woodland, willow scrub and all the different wildlife that live there; and how the RSPB look after nature, not just birds. The children were great at asking and answering questions about the wildlife including where they live, how they are camouflaged and their predators. Great knowledge!
On our minibeast hunt we discovered and collected slugs, snails, millipedes and worms under logs and stones in all the dark and wet places. Then to the Hideout where we looked at the garden birds; including the cheeky pheasant and moorhen looking for food.
We learned about brilliant birds by touching and feeling feathers and looking at lots of different kinds of nests built by garden birds. We were listening to birds singing when we were joined by a very noisy robin! We squeezed teddy birds to listen to the sounds of different birds.
In the afternoon we were brave enough to climb to the top of the Skytower to look over the whole of Leighton Moss and listen for the Bittern, quiet enough to use our binoculars in Lillian’s Hide to observe lots of different birds – dipping, diving ducks, moorhen, geese and marsh harriers.
Then we became plant detectives, making bookmarks and smelly cocktails from leaves and flowers, collecting leaves to make rubbings of bark and leaves and lots of other activities.
We had a brilliant day at Leighton Moss: it was over far too quickly!