http://shropshirewildlifetrust.ethink.org.uk Shropshire Wildlife Trust, 193 Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury SY2 6AH. Tel: 01743 284280 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:57:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The last session!!!! With lots of shouts of urrgggghhh! we dissected barn owl pellets. When owls catch voles and mice they really enjoy eating the meat but they cannot digest the bones so they save them up, create a sort of 'furball' full of bones and spit it out - that's what ... http://shropshirewildlifetrust.ethink.org.uk/2008/07/10/minsterley-eco-club-week-12/ We've encouraged birds and bugs so this week it was the turn of bats! It was a noisy session with lots of banging but we eventually produced two wonderful bat boxes. We decided to position them in the school grounds so one of them faces south and the other faces north, to ... http://shropshirewildlifetrust.ethink.org.uk/2008/07/10/minsterley-eco-club-week-11/ Go out and find some worms!!!! This week we made wormaries however the worms were in short supply! It had been very dry and the ground was baked hard. Anyone know any good worm charming techniques? Did you know there is an annual worm charming contest in Cheshire? Fancy entering? We also worked ... http://shropshirewildlifetrust.ethink.org.uk/2008/07/10/minsterely-eco-club-week-10/ The challenge for this week was to identify a few of the wild flowers and grasses collected in the meadow last week. It was interesting to see most of the grasses were green whereas the flowers were brightly coloured - a sign that grasses are pollinated by wind but flowers ... http://shropshirewildlifetrust.ethink.org.uk/2008/06/30/minsterley-ecoclub-week-9/ The ecoclub goes on tour!! What a fantastic session. We were invited by a local farmer to see a wild flower meadow before it was grazed by cattle. Armed with sweep nets and pots we headed off to see the meadow. It was a sea of colour and swaying stems. We collected ... http://shropshirewildlifetrust.ethink.org.uk/2008/06/30/minsterley-ecoclub-week-8/ The Do One Thing task for the summer term was to 'give a bug a home'. Excellent as we'd already planned to make an insect hotel! Wooden pallets, old plant pots, straw and twigs were collected and arranged to create a tower of places perfect for insects such ladybirds and ... http://shropshirewildlifetrust.ethink.org.uk/2008/06/30/ecoclub-weeks-5-6-7/ The 'Do One Thing' for this term was to 'Make a Garden Grow'. The school was sent an information pack by BBC Breathing Places Schools which contained some free seeds. These seeds were Sunflower, Pot Marigold, Corn Poppy, Cornflower and Borage. The children decided to create a wild flower bed and so ... http://shropshirewildlifetrust.ethink.org.uk/2008/05/19/minsterley-eco-club-week-three-and-four/ Hedgerows make excellent habitats for wildlife, animals nest in them , others feed from them and some use them to navigate. Although it is a little late in the season to be planting a hedgerow the children in the Eco club were committed to providing the shrubs the necessary care such ... http://shropshirewildlifetrust.ethink.org.uk/2008/05/19/minsterley-eco-club-week-two/ April is the month to stop any large scale changes to your wildlife area, such as pond creation or clearance; hold off any tree planting until Autumn, and certainly delay any removal of trees for a while, as Spring really gets underway. Take the class out and look for the ... http://shropshirewildlifetrust.ethink.org.uk/2008/05/04/what-to-do-in-your-wildlife-area-april/ We've just taken delivery of an exciting new book in our shop. Called "The Wildlife of Britain - The Definitive Visual Guide", it takes you on an exciting pictorial journey across our varied landscape and habitats. It's a beautiful book, too heavy to take out in the field with you, ... http://shropshirewildlifetrust.ethink.org.uk/2008/05/04/the-wildlife-of-britain/