On our first monthly Sunday Nature Walk, Discoverers were invited to look for Christmas chocolates which Gerald the Jolly Owl had carefully hidden away, only he couldn’t remember where!
22 children and their parents turned up to this lovely event.
Thanks to Gerald’s clues, we learnt that there is a new defibrillator at Pen Ponds kiosk and what it is for, why old trees are enclosed in chestnut fencing, what a sycamore looks like and we compared it to an oak tree, how a truncated conifer is an excellent sound post for woodpeckers, why there are so many swans on pen Ponds right now and where to find a buoy if someone was ever in difficulty in the water. A lovely learning walk!
At the end Gerald popped out of the bag and revealed that in fact, he had left the chocolates back at the kiosk!
Here are the participants learning that when there isn’t a breeding pair of swans on the pond, many will congregate but as soon as a breeding pair wants to establish itself, the male will fight all others, including his own offspring!
Swans’ fights are to come on Pen Ponds and we should leave them to it, nature will follow its course and we are so fortunate to bear witness to it on our walks in the park.