Erin has received information about Wildlife Watchers - the junior club of the Scottish Wildlife Trust - and we have decided to set up a blog about her discoveries.
Today (15 July) we went to Valleyfield Pond in Penicuik and did a bit of pond dipping and went for a walk along the woodland railway path.
When we arrived at the pond the weather was warm and sunny. We dipped the pond and found: 2 minnows, a tadpole, some kind of worm like creature and some water beetles. Some people who were out for a walk told us the pond also contained newts and frogs. A gentleman arrived and put some bird seed in the pond for the ducks who nest in the beds at the far side of the pond.
Later on the walk we met the gentleman again and he told me (Erin's mum - Wendy) about the problems he was having with Colony Collapse Disorder. He keeps honey bees and has had his hives reduced from 100 to 12. The bees are leaving the hive, dying and eventually the hive collapses. He said he thought it was something to do with mobile phone masts (I thought this had been disproven but apparently more information has come out about it recently). We also discussed the recent landslide on the Penicuik estate where chemicals and rubble buried years ago that were rubbish from the old paper mill slid down the hill, blanketed out the vegetation and contaminated the river killing fish. He pointed out that the fish had recovered and we saw some jumping out of the water to catch flies (it will take much longer for the land at the slide site to recover).
We also took some photos of wild flowers on our walk and of areas where hogweed was blanketing out other vegetation.
On the way back the ducks were out feasting on the seed and we took some more photos
Sunday, 15 July 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
