Red Squirrel Awareness Week

This week is all about the Red Squirrel!

Red squirrels have become increasingly rare in the UK with only around 140,000 left in the wild.  The non-native American Grey squirrel is much more numerous (thought to be around 2.5million) and it is this squirrel that we more commonly see in our parks, gardens and woodlands.  Grey squirrels were only brought to the UK around 200 years ago but they have now spread far and wide and are endangering the populations of red squirrels.  

Red squirrels used to be found all over the UK up until the 1950s.  However, they are now most commonly found in areas such as Scotland, the Lake District and Northumberland where there is a lot of conifer woodland.  This is because this habitat is in decline due to climate change and so the red squirrels are having to retreat even further north.   

So what is being done?  The Wildlife Trusts are working hard to help save the red squirrels from extinction.  They are actively involved in managing their habitat to make sure they have enough areas in which to live, eat and breed successfully.  They closely monitor squirrel populations and control grey squirrel numbers in areas where red squirrels are significantly in decline.  Through education and awareness projects, it is hoped that red squirrel numbers may start to rise again and thrive in all parts of the UK.

To find out more, click the links below:

🌰 The Wildlife Trust

🌰 Scottish Squirrels

🌰 Red Squirrel Survival Trust

The Autumn Equinox

Today marks the official start of autumn in the UK  🍁

This is when the days start to become noticeably shorter and we get cooler temperatures taking over our weather.   The term equinox comes from latin meaning 'equal light'. At this time of year, the sun is rising at around 7am and setting around 7pm, meaning the days have approximately equal day light and night time at the moment.  From now on however, the days will continue to get shorter until we reach the winter solstice in December when the days will begin to lengthen again.  

Some animals are preparing to hunker down and survive the harsher conditions that winter brings, whilst plants and flowers are finishing their final blooms and putting their energy into making seeds for the next spring.  Here are some of the changes that you may start to notice:

🍂 Leaves change colour to wonderful yellows, oranges and reds and start to fall from the trees

🍂 Nuts, seeds and berries are growing in abundance and falling from the trees too - animals like squirrels take advantage of this food source before the cold winter arrives!

🍂 Large groups of birds will fly south in search of warmer weather

🍂 Mornings get misty as the night temperatures drop a lot colder over night

🍂 Birds such as starlings appear to dance in the sky as they swarm together to keep warm

🍂 Fungi comes alive as it feeds on the dead and decaying leaf matter 

To find out more about autumn, click on the links below:

🍁 The Woodland Trust

🍁 The Wildlife Trust

🍁 The BBC 

Activity: What to sow in September

As we slowly crawl towards the end of the summer we may feel sad as the flowers start to fade and the crisp sun-dried leaves begin to fall to the ground.  It's a good time to cut back any dead-heads, dried grasses and faded blooms, but we can also begin to think about what wonderful fruit and vegetables we may want for the year ahead!

Here are some ideas for what to sow in September:

🌽 Leafy veg - sowing seeds for things like cabbages and spinach is best done in September though they may need some protection over winter

🌽 Broad beans and peas - these are hardy plants that will establish over winter and be ready to harvest next spring

🌽 Radishes - these can be sown and grow quickly ready for a crop in a few weeks!

🌽 Onions and garlic - isn't it great to grow your own so that they're right there for when you need them?... planting in autumn means you will have a crop ready to harvest from early next year

🌽 Herbs - things like coriander, parsley and rocket grow well and are hardy to the colder temperatures

Did you know that September is also the month for growing food organically? This means growing food without toxic pesticides that are harmful to wildlife and require a lot of energy to manufacture. Growing your own veg is the perfect way to stay organic and avoid buying into the large-scale farmed supermarket produce. 

To find out more about what to grow, visit the Gardener's World website. 

To read more about Organic September, visit the Soil Association website. 

National Read a Book Day!

Today is National Read a Book Day!  It is a day to remind us of the simple joy of reading a book and escaping into a another world for a short time.  Whether you love to read story books, poems, travel books, or the classics, we can all share in the experience of curling up with a good read and National Read a Book Day is the perfect day to get back into that habit!

Reading is a fantastic hobby with so many benefits.  It has been shown to help your memory, develop your writing skills and vocabulary, and also improve your analytical skills and concentration.  Studies have also shown it aids relaxation and has a calming effect.  I know so many people who use reading as a good way to fall off to sleep at night!

If you don't usually read, why not give it a try today.  Choose a book that has perhaps been sitting on your shelf for a long time that you've never picked up and find a cosy corner to sit in to begin reading. If you have children, why not read aloud or make story time a part of the bedtime routine.  Non-fiction and travel books can be a good way into reading if you've fallen out of the habit.  Treating yourself to a newspaper or magazine can also be a great way to spend half an hour away from phone and TV screens and other distractions.  Or if you're lucky enough to have a Kindle or similar, why not browse the whole library of books out there and find something new to enjoy! 📚

Zero Waste Week 2020

Next week is Zero Waste Week  ♻

How much waste do you think you produce in a week? What about a month? A year?  How much of it goes to landfill, or are you a super recycler?  If you're like me, you try not to think about it too much as it can feel quite alarming when you add it all up! Zero Waste Week is a time where we can refocus on how much rubbish we produce each week and try to find ways to limit it.  Producing zero waste is quite an ambitious challenge, but if we even halve our waste then that would be amazing progress!

It's important to remember why we need to do this.  We are so far removed from the whole operation of waste disposal that it is easy to forget it even exists once the rubbish lorry has been along and collected it. Plastic continues to be one of the biggest problems in the waste disposal process.  So much plastic is for single-use, and is then dumped back into landfill where it will remain for several hundred years.  Even plastics that can be recycled and not always put through this process and end up in landfill too.  

Plastic pollution in our oceans is a major cause for concern.  As plastic is so light, it can float and travel long distances and is very hard to retrieve.  Around 8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into our oceans every year and over 90% of bird species are thought to have plastic in their stomachs.  Some of the biggest culprits are plastic bags, plastic drinks bottles, and any kind of plastic packaging (this accounts for 40% of all plastic produced).  

So what can we do?  Any action is better than no action, and although making different choices can sometimes be more expensive, we need to think about what damaging plastic is costing the planet:

💚 Visit a local green grocers

Lots of greengrocers sell produce loose or in paper bags which can be easily composted

💚 Shop second-hand

Lots of clothes are made from polyester or viscose which are a kind of plastic; buying second hand is cheaper and avoids new plastic being made

💚 Buy from a refill shop

If you have one nearby, take some containers along and fill up on a few items from the refill shop.  Look to see what other plastic free items they have as well

💚 Get a compost bin

You can easily buy or make a compost bin.  This saves your food scraps from going to waste and is amazing for the garden!

💚 Buy less

We tend to generally buy a lot more than we need!  Challenge yourself to see if you can go for a week (or even a month!) without buying the things you absolutely need such as food and toiletries

Find out more at https://www.zerowasteweek.co.uk 

Greening your school

Today sees the return of many children to school and the focus (rightly so!) is very much on how to make sure everyone is safe and healthy in this time of coronavirus.  It is difficult at the moment to find time to think about the environment and making sustainable choices, but we mustn't forget to keep our environment safe and healthy too.  Schools are fantastic places to teach children about being eco-conscious and show them how to live greener and more environmentally-responsible lives.  Whether its through school routines, lessons, or activities where you come together as a community, we can all help to keep our planet at the forefront of our minds and help children become global citizens.

Here are some top tips for keeping your school green:

🌿 Put some house plants in your classroom and have different children look after them each week.  They will quickly learn what plants need and it is rewarding to watch them grow over time.  

🌿 Do a class or school litter pick where you clean up the school grounds or surrounding side streets near your school.  Children love seeing that they are making a difference and it might increase their awareness of littering in the future.

🌿 Turning the lights off once in a while (as long as its light enough to see!) is a great way of saving energy and it makes children calmer and more focused when they are working.  Try it during story time or silent or independent reading too.  

🌿 Recycling paper is an essential way of keeping a school green!  Schools use so much paper and ink each year that it is worth investigating a proper recycling system to avoid waste.  Look into buying lower-quality recycled paper for quick lesson activities that aren't going to be kept. 

🌿 Do some outdoor lessons where you interact with nature.  It doesn't have to be topic related, you can simply use an outdoor space as a different teaching environment for an english or maths activity that occurs in an outdoor setting.  The children will be more engaged and their senses more alive too.