Hello fellow trainees,
I have been a bit lacks on the blogging front, but in my defence i have been crazy busy and have an ancient computer at home!
So! Back to June i spent most of my time preparing for the first ever Biodiversity Camp out with Newtownabbey Council, where we invited a local scout group to camp out in Rathfern Wood which is managed by the Woodland Trust. I planned out the evening, night and morning activities to keep the group busy and tired enough to go to sleep come bed time!
On the eve of the 16th June we took to the last of the Belfast Hills, Carnmoney and made our way to a cracker spot, with a great view of Belfast Lough and the city as it went about its busy saturday night.
Kids being kids they were more interested in chasing the abundance of common frogs hiding in the long grass! After getting to grips with an outside toilet and a quick talk on moths, we set out to set the traps for the evening, two heath and one homemade. The night followed with some sausage butties for supper and a night walk with some bat detectors. Tired from the walk we got some hot chocolate and listened to “Discover The Dark side” BBC Chris Packham C.D. If we didnt catch any moths then we definately attracted a Common Pipistrelle Bat, by playing the ecolocation noises from the stereo!
The morning catch proved to be a little disappointing, however we did have the help from local moth enthusiast Bertie Stirling who brought along a few moths from a garden trap. Including a fantastic Poplar Hawk Moth! Thanks to the Park Wardens, George and Mark we had somewhere to gather in a large army tent for the opening of the traps.
Tired but happy after breakfast of bacon butties, we set off back to Rathfern Community Centre and home.
Later in that month, the moth theme continued with a planned family fun day to celebrate National Moth Night on 23rd June. We decided to show a demonstration of how to build you own moth trap with the help of James Carroll, handy man extrodinaire!
There were also some live moths to see, as well as workshops for kids, including Butterfly Feeder making workshop and Circus Poi spinning with Clare Hawkins.
Great for the local community and park engagement, as well as going towards a Green Flag award judgement.
Mossley Park is a great place for local schools such as Earlview Primary to use the skills they have learnt through Forest Schools and Eco Club schemes. I took a group out on a trail through the park, looking for signs of animal life through a series of clues and pictures.