Posted: Friday 7th October 2016 by sarah.m
Communications Officer Sarah Moran joins in the 'Wild Summer Fun' at the EcoPark.
Hundreds of inner-city children and adults have had a chance to get closer to nature at the EcoPark in Birmingham this summer. The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country has held 15 Wild Summer fun days this year, thanks to support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
The EcoPark is a hidden gem in the city suburbs – a wonderful haven for people and wildlife who to escape and enjoy the simple pleasures of nature. For the first Wild Summer fun day, I went along to meet children from a holiday club at St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School.
Nowadays, you often hear that youngsters are more interested in computers than the great outdoors. But when I met these children they were buzzing with excitement to be at the EcoPark and couldn’t wait to start exploring.
Guy Belding, our Education Officer, started off the session with a minibeast hunt and within seconds the children had spread out to search the undergrowth. They were thrilled to find wolf and crab spiders, shield bugs, ladybirds and their larvae, cardinal beetles, newts and a frog.
Next Guy showed the children how to do pond dipping and they swirled their fishing nets in the murky water to see what they could find. With great anticipation, they pulled out their nets and emptied the creatures they had discovered into white plastic trays to take a closer look.
Jemma, aged 9, told me: “I was really excited about coming here today. Guy is really funny and he knows a lot about nature. I like doing the pond dipping the most – I love finding the frogs and the tadpoles.”
Nearby, a group of boys are sat in a circle staring silently at their discoveries - when you can spend your summer watching the fascinating antics of tiny froglets who needs computer games!
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