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Our 2 groups came together today to Welcome Linda Tedford, who is one of the Park Rangers from Eglinton Park. We all had a fabulous time and learned all about habitats and where to look for mini-beasts. We found lots of amazing creatures, some were familiar and some were very unusual. Linda showed us how to use sweep nets and pit fall traps and we also did some tree tapping to encourage the insects to land on our sheet. We were amazed at how many different types of mini beasts were hiding in our surroundings. We found worms, spiders, centipedes, millipedes, leopard slugs, woodlice, aphids, flies, bumble bees and Devil's Coach Horse Beetles. What an amazing time we had, being outdoors and exploring the environment around us was wonderful.

Fabulous Den Building Skills.

This week we planted some fresh healthy marram grass. Our helper Jo gave us a head start by providing us with some gloves and a cane to help us dig a hole to plant the grass. We had the chance to learn about and find some marram grass with rhizomes that are roots that not only helps grow the grass already planted but also helps it grow under the sand. To plant the marram grass we used our cane to bury it under the sand and stirred around so there was room for the marram grass' rhizomes to grow. We took marram grass from a more healthy patch of the sand dunes and planted it in a place that was more in need of the grass. We then, with our last 15 minutes, went onto the beach and made transient art which is art made with sticks and shells and more things that are natural to the beach. We also found an outstanding beetle nest as well as a couple of caterpillars which we found very interesting and cool. We can't wait to see the progress of our extraordinary marram grass!

P5 and P6 are really proud of completing their Level 1 Bikeability training.

On Wednesday, Mr MacGregor from the Argyll Bird Club visited Primary 7 outdoors to help construct our bird tables. Pupils painted the tables and then they were placed in position. Mr MacGregor then taught pupils all about bird beak adaptations and the type of food we will need to feed our garden visitors. We hope to put up our bird boxes soon and we might even get to visit an osprey nest before the end of the year! It has been fantastic to learn about birds and how to help conserve bird species.

First picture shows the first step in making a bug bucket. The next stage is to put large stones in the bottom of the bucket and put in natural wood logs vertically in the bucket and fill the bucket, with at least 2" clearance at the top so some soil can be put on top to cover, with woodchips or a lot of dead leafs, dig a hole in the chosen area so that the bucket can be submerged fully in the ground, cover it with soil and decorate area with either fallen\rotting logs to help entice beetles and larvae to the bug bucket, decorating the area also helps you remember where the bucket is buried so in future you can dig it up and explore what has moved in.

On Thursday Primary 7 took their last trip outdoors to complete their John Muir discovery award. Pupils identified shell species and learned about how shells are formed. Primary 7 also took a survey of shell species and a tally of litter as well which they then put into pie charts on their return to class. Although it rained, everyone had a great final trip. We litter picked all the way back to school to look after our local community. Pupils were sad to say goodbye to the award but happy to have spent such a wonderful time over the last ten months in our beautiful surroundings. "For every walk in nature, one receives far more than he seeks". - John Muir. Primary 7, Kirn Primary School 2020 -2021 xx

Went back to Cuttlebrook after the water level had gone down so I could access the camera and dry it out. There was lots of water in the camera so I anticipated that I would have to wait quite a while for it to be fully functioning again. W/c 1st Feb 2021