Junior Wetland Warden Log 2
Guest blog by WWT London Wetland Centre Learning Manager Shayna Barby
The second week of junior warden activity has seen us continue our habitat restoration work on the South Route of the London Wetland Centre. Over the course of the week some 20 children between 7 and 13 years of age have joined us to restore the log garden by removing logs, surveying any wildlife found, and finally piling up the logs again to make the piles stable and tidy (or as tidy as a wildlife garden needs to be!).
Shifting our focus from the log garden to smaller habitats, we have also embarked on the creation of a series of smaller minibeast refugia. This was a very hands-on task that our junior wardens took on with great relish and teamwork as they dug holes in the earth with trowels, hammered wooden frames together, secured rope handles onto log rounds, and finally put the refugia together.
Interesting invertebrates encountered this week included a myriad of spiders such as house spiders, a zebra spider, a wolf spider, a woodlouse spider, centipedes, slugs, a buff-tailed bumblebee, plenty of woodlice, snails and an ants nest that I accidentally managed to sit on! As well as invertebrates, these refugia are also great hideouts for small vertebrates, with a smooth newt taking shelter in one of them.
Next jobs will be to finish off the refugia, dig in some pitfall traps and conduct some mini surveys. With one more week of the holiday, this is your opportunity to join the gang for some hands-on fun in the outdoors before the classroom beckons once more. Suitable for children aged 5 and over. Children aged 7+ may take part unaccompanied if a consent form is signed.
See our first Junior Wetland Warden Log
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