Going Wild about Scotland through March 2017

20/04/2017 in RZSS

March has been jam-packed with lots of school visits across 12 local authorities. We spent the first few days in the lovely region of Moray and Aberdeenshire where we enjoyed exploring the surrounding area.

The following week was a home week involving trips to Clackmannanshire, South Lanarkshire, Glasgow and Stirling. On the 8th of March, we celebrated our 400th school at Dalmarnock Primary as well as marking over 40,000 people to engage with the Wild about Scotland programme! We celebrated with Clydesdale Bank joining us for the visit and they had a great day seeing what we have to offer. We can’t thank Clydesdale Bank enough for their continued support.

We were also asked to take part in a family nature event the Bell Pettigrew Museum, St. Andrews University. The event focussed on local wildlife as part of their nature themed day. It was a great event and the Wild about Scotland team inspired families to make their own bug hotels and bird feeders for their gardens after their visit to the bus.

An amazing backdrop for our Wild about Scotland assembly at Girvan Primary School.

Dumfries and Galloway, East and South Ayrshire were three local authorities that we managed to visit the week after. We were very privileged to be part of Girvan Primary School’s Wildlife Day and we think the teachers were just as excited as the children to see the bus and enjoyed all the sessions on board the bus as well as the whole school assembly.

Now that we are into spring we have re-started our mini-beast session; giving pupils the opportunity to get their hands dirty and explore what is living in their school grounds. Unfortunately, the day of the first mini-beast session was snowy and cold (so much for the start of spring!!) but we were still able to find some interesting mini-beasts and the pupils loved the session. It also gives us the chance to watch the changing of the seasons as different mini-beasts emerge as the temperature increases.

We visited the Cairngorms during the last week of March - the scenery was stunning and we even managed to spot some amazing wildlife on the drive up. The schools there really love their local wildlife and some of the schools are even lucky enough to have camera traps, and the children loved telling us all the animals they caught on them.

April will be just as busy with us taking part in the Edinburgh International Science Festival. We will be located at different sites across Edinburgh and we will finish the two-week festival at RZSS Edinburgh Zoo over the Easter weekend. We will visit schools in Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire during the week following the Easter break, and will end April with a trip to Islay and Jura, and hopefully a stop-off at Knapdale to see what is going on now the Scottish Beaver Trial is finished.

See you next month,

Kirsty and Rosie

Wild about Scotland Education Officers

Top comments from schools this month:

“Really loved this experience - pupils were all really excited!” Bellsbank Primary

“The habitat sorting activity was well done especially as it included props - pupils loved that. Pupils found being on the bus exciting.” Bellsbank Primary

“Prepatory resources very useful and set the children up well for the session (Powerpoint & Glossary).” Lanark Primary

 

Top comments from members of the public this month:

“We liked everything – very knowledgeable people.” Berry, Cupar

“It was AMAZING!” Ali, Dundee

“Excellent” Tristan, St. Andrews Ruth Fraser (04/04/17)

 

Top tweets from this month:

Today we visited our 400th school & celebrated over 40,000 people engaging with @WildaboutScot Thanks @clydesdalebank for making it possible pic.twitter.com/EsDQvaqi9x

— Wild about Scotland (@WildaboutScot) March 8, 2017

Thanks for having us Redwell PS. We had a great time teaching all about our #great #scottish #wildlife and the reasons they are under threat https://t.co/Zmyk1Co0sp

— Wild about Scotland (@WildaboutScot) March 7, 2017