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We've been busy exploring! We've been taking part in some of the challenges in our little 'family' team, Flowers and Pebbles Childminding. We have taken some time to learn a bit about John Muir and what he did. We have explored new parts of the forests around our house and gone away from our usual tracks to see what we could find. A favourite was spongey moss in the woods. We played explorers and camped out in the living room! 🤣 We took rucksacks and did a scavenger hunt for conkers and acorns etc which we made sculptures with when we got home. We splashed in puddles and used the trees as swings. We've tried to conserve the wild life in our garden by putting out a new bird box and bug hotel. We went on a night time walk to see if we could spot some bats. We fed the ducks. We explored different senses in the garden when it was cold and raining.

Superb Scavenger hunt from one of our Elderbank Nature Hunters. Look at the amazing objects that were found. Can you name them?

We are lucky enough to live somewhere where we regularly spot red squirrels on our walks but today we spotted two grey squirrels chasing each other around a tree. When we got home we went on the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrel website to learn a bit more about the red and grey squirrels and why it is important to help protect the red squirrels and their habitat. We logged our sighting of the two greys on the SSRS website so that people can monitor locations and numbers of both red and grey squirrel numbers in Scotland in an effort to protect the native reds. Cox Family.

Yesterday Joseph led us on our walk and picked which way we went at each junction so Freya and I just had to keep up with him and follow where he went. We found loads of really big puddles and lots of mud so did some splashing and squelching on the way. We spotted a red squirrel in the woods so have logged it like we did yesterday with the greys and we heard a big bird of prey calling above the hills. Joseph also wanted to find some conkers and show Freya how soft the moss was on the wall. Cox Family.

Because of Covid-19 our group activities on the National Cycle Network were paused and are only now slowly restarting. Instead we have been encouraging volunteers to take small actions on their own or with their household...of course, individual acts multiplied can have a huge effect and I'm no exception to being part of that possibility, so a little while back, I left my computer and pulled on my waterproofs to go and pick up some litter I'd spotted on the Roseburn Path - route 1 - in Edinburgh. I meant to pick up one bag and drop it back in the office waste bins, so didn't take the bike trailer...but, man, it's hard to stop once you're started - you can't just walk away from that last plastic bottle tangled in the bushes, can you?? It was a wrestle back to the bins. The litter levels this year have been interesting, dropping hugely when we were all asked to stay at home...but it's crept up again, and I'm delighted we'll be back out with volunteers really soon. That rainy day gave me a boost from stepping away from my emails and screen, and also the joy of seeing once again the resident Grey Wagtail on the route, who I've seen several times now...always alone, but always adding a flash of lemony sunshine to the greyest of days. About time I got back there.

Today we measured the trunks of some trees in our local area to determine their ages. We had some measured some trees on our walk from Upper Froyle to Bentley at the weekend. S also decided to take some photos of fungi in some hard to see places. The Fly Agaric was on a steep hill. One type of fungi was under a bridge and one on top of a tall tree stump.

Today we measured the trunks of some trees in our local area to determine their ages. We had measured some trees on our walk from Upper Froyle to Bentley at the weekend. S also decided to take some photos of fungi in some hard to see places. The Fly Agaric was on a steep hill. One type of fungi was under a bridge and one on top of a tall tree stump.

Hi everyone, Keeping it Wild trainee Max here again - On Monday at Walthamstow Wetlands, we found some amazing blue mushrooms in the outdoor classroom - it proved quite exciting for the half-term events taking place and all the children were shown the mysterious fungi! To end the day, there was a gorgeous sunset that I was luckily enough to see when locking up the site - so magical!