This week the children were very excited to continue to discover the world of birds and wondered if any birds had returned to the feeders to eat the food that the children had previously left out for them. As we ventured through the woodland towards the feeders the children began to creep slowly down the hill looking to see which birds they could identify. The children were astonished to see the food we had previously left had been eaten, this began a conversation as to who had eaten the food?

Was it a bird?............. Was it a squirrel?.................

The children used the cameras to capture images of the surrounding areas looking for clues, we continued on our way to the forest school site discussing the mystery of the missing food. The children became inquisitive about the variety of trees we passed on our way, looking at the holes and spaces they discovered within the trees. They found trees with holes at the top which lead to discussions about which kinds of birds may hide in holes at the tops of trees.

Once on the forest school site the children engaged in a planned session and enjoyed independently creating their own bird feeders using pine cones, lard and porridge oats. The group explored different ways to transfer the lard onto the pine cone beginning using a spoon which proved rather tricky as the lard did not want to stay on the pine cone, some of the children attempted to use sticks and then resorted to using their hands as this proved to be the most effective and allowed the children to push the lard into the gaps and then roll the cone in the oats. Once the bird feeders were ready the children talked about the best place to hang them, we discovered a tree close by that was perfect for hanging the bird feeders, we were excited to see what we would find the following week.