Day 94 - Bugs, Boats and Bats

A busy day!  I ran a school outreach session for Staffordshire Wildlife Trust in the morning - at a school site, but it was for a nursery / school holiday club as children are not at school this week here. The favourite activity of the morning was bug hunting with sweep nets (always one of my favourites!). We found orb spiders, all sorts of flies, leafhoppers, craneflies and a few frogs. The children also enjoyed making their own clay animals.

In the afternoon I went over and spent some time at Carstington Water - as a visitor rather than a volunteer for a change! It was nice to just have a wander, sit and admire the view, watch birds from the hide (I saw a kingfisher, always nice!) then I watched the boats and the waves for a bit...

...before heading to the classroom to get ready for a bat night - my last Wild Wednesday volunteer event of the summer holidays. I didn't take any photos during the evening but it was fantastic!

The man who taught me dry stone walling last year attended with his grandson. He's a lovely man and it was nice to be able to catch up with him. I think everyone who attended enjoyed the night and there was no shortage of bats around. After a bat facts trail and making 'flapping bats', we had a walk in the dark with bat detectors and heard all three varieties of Pipistrelle (Common, Soprano and Nathusius') Daubenton's and Noctule and we saw lots of Pipstrelles and Noctules too. A really successful evening!