Chirp 5
Each week I’m posting a Chirpy Chirp Challenge, listening to different bird calls.
Today we’re listening to the song thrush.
Last week we listened to the blackbird. How did you get on recognising its calls? I’d be interested to hear from you!
All you’ll need to join in is a piece of paper and a pencil. Continue reading
Mornin abody 🙂
Today’s tree is the ash tree.
Time for a tale – how the ash tree came to be.
Mornin folks, here’s another bird for you! D’you know it’s name?
Last week’s Chirpy Challenge was one ‘sky dancer’, the swift – and here’s another beautifully aerodynamic bird 🙂
Notice the red above and below its bill. This bird has deep blue on its wings and a very long forked tail.
Challenge – can you draw it?
Find out what it is on the RSPB bird identifier under ‘S’: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z
This is a swallow 🙂
Morning abody 🙂
Chirp 4
Each week I’m posting a Chirpy Chirp Challenge, listening to different birdsong.
Today we’re listening to the blackbird song.
Last week we listened to the robin and wren. How did you get on recognising their calls? I’d be interested to hear from you!
All you’ll need to join in is a piece of paper and a pencil. Continue reading
Morning 🙂
Today’s tree is the horse chestnut.
In the photo above is a horse chestnut in May, the time when it’s covered in bonny candle-like white flowers and the young leaves have just clothed the tree 🙂
Horse chestnut wood has a smooth, soft texture, that’s pale and creamy in colour and great for carving – listen to a story about it:
Time for a Tale – how a king learns the importance of having a trade Continue reading
Do you know this bird?
What d’you think it eats? Look at the length of its wings compared to its body size.
What d’you think that can tell you?
I copied this one from a book because they move sooo fast it’s hard to take a picture of one.
Challenge – can you draw one?
These birds are called swifts. Continue reading
Chirp 3
Each week I’m posting a Chirpy Chirp Challenge, looking at birdsong.
Today we are looking at the robin and the wren.
Last week was the chaffinch and goldfinch. How did you get on recognising their calls? I’d be interested to hear from you!
All you’ll need to join in is a piece of paper and a pencil. Continue reading
It’s another bonny een in Aberdeen, and the flowers are fairly bloomin 🙂
How many of you are looking out on loads o yellow? The dandelions around us are just amazing – there’s been noone to cut the grass, so they’ve been able to grow, bloom and provide precious nectar for our waking insects.
Did you know you can eat dandelions? And not just the flower – the leaves as well!
But they do need to be washed first to clean them of any dirt, insects or pee.
If you want to experiment, make sure you are using dandelions, and not a flower that looks like one – check below.
Flower check!
Leaf – the dandelion leaf is smooth and has wavy sides (apparently this looks like lion’s teeth, which is where the flower got it’s name!)
Flower – the dandelion has only one flower for each stalk.
Salad: why not pick a few young dandelion leaves to have with your lettuce? But avoid the bigger, older leaves – they are tough and bitter.
Tea: pick a few flowers, about 4, and remove the green base, which has a bitter taste. Pour on boiling water and leave to steep for a while. What do you think?
Dandelion fritters: https://learningherbs.com/remedies-recipes/dandelion-fritters/
Dandelion and lemon biscuits: https://craftinvaders.co.uk/dandelion-and-lemon-biscuits/
Dandelions begin to grow early – when the days start to lengthen, so do their leaves! An then the first flowers come:
Often there are many flower heads on one plant and once they bloom, the insects get busy sooking the nectar and some, like this bee, collecting the pollen to make food.
Have you noticed that dandelions close up at night and then open when the sun shines on them? Here’s one just thinking about opening:
When the flower is finished it begins to change from yellow to white:
It becomes fluffy like this:
And the seeds form:
As soon as wind or your breath blows on the seed head, the seeds begin to fly off:
They twirl away like wee parasols; you can see them more clearly here:
At the base of each ‘parasol’ there is a pod. Can you guess what is in it? Aye! the makings of new dandelions 🙂
Here’s a wee poem for you:
Dandelion, dandelion, yellow and bright
Your petals open with the light
Dandelion, dandelion with seeds as soft as down
Blow them in the air and scatter them around
Challenge – can you make up actions for this wee song?
Some birds depend on seed heads for food – like these goldfinches:
In most gardens we don’t see how dandelions continue to grow because they are cut back each time the grass is mown!
If you leave the dandelion plant, it will have a second flowering later in the summer – and this is great news for birds and insects 🙂
A clock that never ticks but says…
How much time will pass me by
Until my children spring up nearby… and I die.
Challenge – can you make up a riddle about something?
Think of a word.
If I choose ‘sea’ – I think of: water, waves, sand…
Now think what the sea does or has in it.
So my brain thinks – waves…waving…
My riddle would be:
Always waving but never staying
I’d love to hear yours 🙂
Our tree today is the Norway maple.
You might mistake it for a sycamore tree (see last week’s ‘Oot ma door’) but hopefully this post will help you spot some of the differences between them.
Here is a story about the maple tree, from the telling of Bob Red Hawk:
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