1000 David Attenboroughs – Week 2

Would you like to be a David Attenborough?!

Take the first steps with Wild West End to learn the skills to be an ecologist.

During this time of coronavirus we have been sending out tasks, some of which can be done looking out the window, others from sitting on your step or in your back yard or garden, or if you are leaving the house, on your walk in the park (please keep apart from others and only go to the parks if the Government allows this).

So, week 2 tasks!

1. Observation Skills – Animal Behaviour

Sit still for 10 minutes in the park, garden or on your doorstep and wait to see if any birds appear. Watch what they are doing. Are they collecting twigs for their nests, or eating insects on the tree branches? Or are they looking for food on the grass or amongst leaves?

If there are no trees outside your house look at the ridge of the roofs or around the gutters. In the West End I often see seagulls sitting in a line on church roofs and starlings washing in gutters!

Watching a birds’ behaviour can help you work out what bird it is. For example, blackbirds look for food on the ground and long tailed tits eat insects on trees.

2) Observation and identification skills

The first lady birds are coming out in the Sun 😊
Can you spot any ladybirds? Can you identify what type they are? This guide will help.
http://www.surfbirds.com/ladybird-guide.html

Wildlife tip; ladybirds, lacewings and some moth and butterfly caterpillars shelter in hollow stems over winter, so try not to tidy them till after the last danger of frost (Mid April in Newcastle). Other insects over winter amongst dead leaves at the base of plants so avoid tidying these too.

Let me know how you do!

Wild West End is a two year project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund

^{Picture of Sir David Attenborough © International Monetary Fund 2019 – Used under Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)}