Going Wild about Scotland - Winter 2017

18/12/2017 in RZSS

Above: Wild about Scotland bus parked outside Victoria Park Primary School

The days are getting shorter and winter is nearly upon us! November started with visits to Victoria Park Primary School in Airdrie and Windyknowe Primary School in Bathgate. The week ended with a bang as people celebrated Bonfire night - hope everyone had a great time!

Rosie had a fun morning helping with the RZSS Conservation Action Team (CAT). They were planting plug plants for pollinators along the John Muir Way. It was great to get out and about doing something practical to help Scottish wildlife.

The following week saw the Wild about Scotland bus staying close to home with visits to St David’s Primary School in West Pilton, Edinburgh and Lawfield Primary School in Mayfield, Dalkeith. We were off to the Borders the following week though, just as the “cold snap” began, engaging with pupils and teachers at West Linton Primary, Clovenfords Primary School, Sacred Heart Primary and Eddleston Primary.

Above: Wild about Scotland has reached its 500th school!

We stayed relatively close to home again the next week, popping over the new Queensferry Bridge to visit Dalgety Bay Primary School at the start of the week and Hill of Beath Primary at the end. We also had a very important trip to Glasgow to celebrate our 500^th school visit at St Paul’s Primary (Whiteinch). This was an extra special visit as St Paul’s Primary was where the Wild about Scotland programme was launched back in 2014. Since then we have engaged with over 70,000 people, including 40,000 school children throughout Scotland. A big thank you to Clydesdale Bank for supporting the programme and to everyone involved with getting the programme so far.

Above: Snow covered playgrounds in Aberdeenshire

We were also lucky enough this month to shadow Education Officers from the Scottish SPCA as they visited Kirkliston Primary School, an excellent opportunity to see other educational programme in action and share best practice techniques and ideas. A big thank you to Dawn, Sarah and Nikki from the Scottish SPCA for having us along.

November ended with our last away trip for 2017 up in Aberdeenshire. We stayed in a lovely cottage in Pennan, right on the harbourside and had a great time teaching pupils from New Deer Primary School, Macduff Primary School, Fraserburgh South Park, Lillies Kindergarten, New Pitsligo & St John’s School and Hatton Cruden School. The weather was quite wild in Aberdeenshire, with snow on the ground making for an interesting journey cross country for the Wild about Scotland car!

Above: Native wildlife lanterns at the Giant Lanterns of China event at Edinburgh Zoo

RZSS Edinburgh Zoo opened the wonderful new “Giant Lanterns of China” exhibition. With over 450 dazzling giant lanterns set throughout the park, that will illuminate the Zoo for 50 nights, it certainly is a sight to behold! There are lots of native animals as a part of it, our favourites are the thistles and the bees!

Make sure you get your tickets now!

This month we are visiting schools in South Lanarkshire, Stirling & Clackmannanshire, as well as getting ready for our Christmas holidays and preparing for the start of the New Year!

We look forward to updating you on this adventures soon but in the meantime best wishes from for 2018 from the whole Wild about Scotland team!

Rosie & Morna

Education Officers

 

Top comments this month:

“Excellent session, P3 thoroughly engaged in both the beavers and teeth sessions” Dr. Todd, West Linton Primary School.

“Active learning with real life objects put into a context which children enjoyed” Amanda Cook, Windyknowe Primary School

Top Social media posts this month:

Great morning with the @EdinburghZoo CAT Team, planting for pollinators on Corstorphine hill along the John Muir way #conservation #bees #🐝 pic.twitter.com/lxbdO8BRMr

— Wild about Scotland (@WildaboutScot) November 11, 2017

Happy #StAndrewsDay from the #WildaboutScotland team! We've had a snowy drive to New Pitsligo this morning in @Aberdeenshire #SnowWatch #❄️ #snow pic.twitter.com/SXRRq7qXGy

— Wild about Scotland (@WildaboutScot) November 30, 2017