Old Moor, pond dipping

Along with our lovely friends, inspired by a local home educator letting us know about this wonderful place, we headed to the Wetlands, Old Moor.  Timing was great, and didn't encounter traffic going or coming home (worked it around school times, as that is something I often forget to do, and regret when stuck behind traffic for far too long.  I have never, to my knowledge spent time at a Wetlands, and wasn't quite sure what to expect, but we got stuck in.  We got the kids explorer packs which included: binoculars, stethoscope, key information with pictorial stuff, drawing materials, bug holder, large magnifying glass, thermometer and compass.  The bags they came in had ears and tails resembling wildlife you might encounter in this place.  It was very sweet.

This magnificent sculpture was one of the first things we encountered and enjoyed on our wander.

Autumn and Amy got stuck in doing some painting and drawing whilst we admired the pond in front of us.  The boys ran off to make some discoveries on their own.  They love to have that bit of freedom where they are doing something on their own.  They found many pond skaters, and Evan later described this bit as his favourite part of the day.  Apparently at the time he said "They must be putting on a skating show for us!"

After observing a school group pond dipping, and the boys being super eager to try it out, Su kindly popped back to hire a pond dipping kit.  We came to this pond which was literally teaming with life, and very exciting to see that we had most of the creatures on the check list... hmm let me see.  We found Water boatman, damselfly nymph, wirligig beetle, Cadisfly larvae, shrimp, pond skater, Ramshorn snail  & another snail (not sure what that one was)

Autumn and I discovered some fluff in the playground and after a bit of exploration realised that they had seeds attached, she found a bullrush, and noticed they were connected, and then experienced pulling it apart and watching the fluff drift off in the wind.

The playground was a big hit.  Not shown, there is a fantastic play wooden tractor which prompted a game of cats, as there was a wooden cat sat upon it.

As you might expect in a RSPB Wetlands site, there were plenty of hides to attempt to spy some birds.  Despite our efforts to see them, and efforts to be quiet, we failed to achieve this aim, though Autumn maintains that she managed to see all the birds on the spotting list in the hide!

This was my view.  I did spy a lovely spiders web in the corner and explored how it moved when I touched individual threads... Oh my goodness they are strong.  Nature is simply marvellous isn't it.

Then we headed to another hide, this time with bird feeders attempting to supply the birds, but I suppose at this time of year birds are getting rich pickings of wild berries all over the place, which make a welcome change from bird feeder fayre.  This makes me realise that we should visit in the winter, as we may have more luck observing birds with less available in the wild.  Another great bird spotting area is at the cafe in Longshaw estate.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day, despite the hard sell from the staff in the shop to buy membership at the beginning of the day.  I realise that they are clearly just very passionate about their work, hence the very strong argument to buy.  With reflection we did decide to buy membership to the RSPB, as an educational thing for the children, and encourage us to visit more.  

Thank you to everyone who works at The Old Moor for all the work they put into such a brilliant resource ,for people and nature alike.  And thank you to Su and her fabulous children for such great company on our trip today, especially Su for the knowledge of all the creatures during our pond dipping explorations.