Brent Nature Network – Bird Watching

Since the start of our Brent Nature Network (BNN) project in collaboration with Queen’s Park City Learning Centre (QPCLC) about eighteen months ago, many of our children have shown an interest in nature and conserving the environment and all that dwell in it.

The BNN project was the vision of Mick Cooley, centre manager of QPCLC; an idea to set up a nature network of schools where pupils could visit each of the ‘nature hubs’ and participate in environmental science activities with a technology slant, using Fronter as a medium through which schools could share their nature network work.  Mick and Jane Federico, the centre’s outreach worker met with Ms Vanderpuye and Mr McNulty from St Mary Magdalen’s and offered our schools an opportunity to be the first two pilot schools for the project. Planning took place over several months before the project was started.

Our nature cams which  QPCLC, through Lottery funding installed for us as part of the project, has been witness to an amazing array of wild life visitors including Mr Miles and Mr Fletcher, caught on camera working on the development of our woodland area. We hope that the Brent Nature Network Project (BNN) will ignite children’s enthusiasm to explore the outdoors, develop an interest in the amazing variety of wild life, minibeasts, butterflies and other endangered species that we perhaps overlook and take no notice of in our everyday lives.

Did you know that stag beetles are becoming extinct? Did you also know that there are more than 30 species of birds that frequent the gardens of Britain?

So far in the BNN project over an eighteen month period we have looked at fishes, spiders and other minibeasts, and also studied the habitat and lifecycle of stag beetles, which are currently an endangered. Children researched the topic, created PowerPoints and shared their findings with children from St Mary Magdalen’s RC Junior school, through the use of video conferencing. We had several sessions with children in Year 4 from both schools. It was a real treat talking to children at the other end of pour local authority. It gave the children a real sense of purpose for their work.

The next phase of the project is due to commence in the summer term when small groups can visit each of the ‘nature hubs’ to carry out some investigative work looking at minibeasts, vegetation, birds and other lifecycles. In preparation for this work Ms V has been doing some research based on birds that visit our British gardens.  Up till now we have not taken a closer look at the birds that frequent our gardens during the seasons. Even our partner school in India, Guru Nanak Public School, Delhi India, has been interested in birds that frequent British gardens. As part of our Global Schools Partnership exchange of project work, last year they produced  a great presentation on birds and all their features.

When the cameras were first installed in our woodland last October, we saw magpies, pigeons, blackbirds, starlings and the occasional seagulls. Now as the seasons change, we are beginning to see a new range of birds including robins, blue tits and wrens. Check out our  Live View of Nature Camera 1. See anything interesting?

Watching our school nature cams has also rekindled my own childhood interests in garden birds. For many years in the eighties I bred tropical fish, had several large and small aquariums and also kept budgies, owning several over a number of years including my first and favourite blue parakeet, Billy.  My interest in birds ceased, since finding out that I may have an allergy to bird feathers in close proximity.  That explained a lot!

I have been fascinated by the British robin as one always appeared in my garden during winter and spring. Up until now I had only ever seen a solitary bird whilst hanging out the washing or doing some spot weeding, making me wonder where it nests or whether it had family. It always disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. This spring, determined to capture my visitor on camera I prepared myself, listening out every morning to its distinctive call. I was not disappointed. Its call heard in between that of the blackbird and pigeon. I knew that at some point I would see the robin on my neighbour’s fence or on the shepherd’s hooks that held my garden lanterns upright. Early morning bird calls were numerous, so wanting to capture their sounds with the recorder on my phone was no surprise. The robin’s call was very recognisable amongst the cacophony of sounds that greeted me this April morning. I recorded several clips each about one minute long.  At the same time I readied my Nikon in an attempt to capture the robin. What I hadn’t realised was that the four bird boxes on my neighbour’s garage were home to a number of nesting birds which included my robin and some blue tits. It had taken me several days before realising where the robin disappeared to every day and night. I was hopeful that I would see the robin as it attempted to coax its young to fly the nest as my neighbour had told me.

This morning my luck was in as I was treated to the wonderful sight of my robin flying to and from the bird box in my neighbour’s garden. It settled at the entrance to the nest, looking as though feeding its young with the fat worms and caterpillars it held in its beak. It stayed inside for a short while before seemingly attempting to coax its young to venture outside of the nest. It was bold yet wonderful to see, the scared little baby poking its head outside momentarily before retreating back to the safety of the nest.  Before long my observation was distracted as the mother moved from the nest to the fence hoping that its baby would follow. Although, it seemed unclear when my shutters snapped the pair on my fence, whether one was mother and the other baby. I supposed a trained eye would be able to tell. I spent about two hours snapping the activities, toing and froing from one tree to the next back to my garden and back to their nest. In between this, blue tits flittered to and from their nest, avoiding my camera through their sheer speed. As beautiful as they were, each snap was blurred through motion, in the cover of leaves or lack of focus. It will be the next mission to capture the blue tits with a little more clarity than today.

After four days of being distracted by robins I was happy to catch the blue tits on camera as I hung out the washing out. On the hottest day in April, I managed to get my camera before it flew into another garden. The motor-wind on the camera was great to get a burst of about 20 shots before my movements startled it away. In amongst the continuous shooting of blue tits, I had also caught on camera an orange tipped butterfly which had only come into the shot after the blue tit flew away. I was very happy because I have seen it several times over the week but it flittered so quickly around me that my laboured movements were unable to catch it!

With the Easter holiday almost over my Easter experience with robins, blue tits and the unexpected orange tip, I have plenty of food for the children when we get back to school. Some new life- cycles to be researched and investigated for our radio station, Channel 7 on  Oak Mag Radio Network (OMRN). During this summer term, classes from Year 4 will be visiting the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre to carry out outdoor nature/scientific investigations. Hopefully this will give them food for thought and plenty to look out for.

Ms V