LOSYBC visits 1st Astley Gilwell Cubs

We had a very interesting visit to the 1st Astley Gilwell Cubs tonight where we gave one of our Bird Identification presentations to the mixed pack of about 30 boy and girl cubs all aged between 8 and 11 years old.

The set up was quite different to the schools we have been visiting this year, with the cubs sitting on the floor to watch our slideshow and answer questions.

The age range was also more of a challenge to us, as the Young Birders' Club team are more used to having just one age group in school classes.

After our usual introduction of 'Who are we?' and 'Why were are we here?', we moved on to the basics of identifying birds on the basis of size and shape, colour, bill colour and shape, leg colour and shape, song, behaviour and habitat.

To illustrate our talk we showed some detailed diagrams of a few selected common birds as well as playing the sounds of their songs.

Following this, the cubs were shown how to make a simple Bird ID dial, which they did in groups at tables set up in the middle of the hall.  Later they used the dials to identify some common birds from photographs on sheets.


We finished the session by going through the answers and many of the cubs got full marks, so well done!

We enjoyed the experience of delivering our presentation to the Cubs and were very well recieved by everyone there.

They were all very enthusiastic and keen to learn as well as tell us what they knew about birds. We hope to be back sometime to do the same again for another pack here.

If you are a member of a Cub, Scout, Brownie or Guide pack and would like a visit like this from the L.O.S. Young Birders' Club team, please contact us at:

leighos.webmaster@gmail.com

New sections added to the LOS YBC website

I've just updated the LOS YBC website with some new sections including:

• Emails with questions and our answers - please send in some more!
• A Bird ID Dial to download in the new 'Things to Do' section
• The LOS YBC Bird Database in the modified 'Sightings' section

The new 'Artwork & Photos' section now contains any drawings and photos that have been emailed or given to me.  We are always looking for more of your creative work.

If you would like to see something that we have not thought of on this website, please e-mail your ideas to:

leighos.webmaster@gmail.com

LOSYBC in the Park

Four members of the L.O.S. were in Lilford Park in Leigh yesterday for a family fun day involving the Friends of Lilford Park (FOLP) action group and a fun fair.

The FOLP were asking members of the public to sign a petition which is lobbying for the park toilets to be refurbished, as well as a lot of other improvements.

These are an essential public facility needed for this superb community resource, especially on days like these.

Click here for more fun day photos.

Dave Wilson, Tony Bishop, Martyn Jones and L.O.S. chairman David Shallcross had a stall with materials publicising the L.O.S. and Young Birders' Club in the hope of attracting new members of all ages. We took a lot of signatures from interested families to add to our e-mail mailing list for future events.

As well as this we took several youngsters and their parents on short guided bird watching walks along the new path at the edge of the woods.  There wasn't too much about to see, but Dave Wilson is an expert on bird song and calls and so 12 bird species were identified in the area.

It was really nice to see a good turnout from some very keen pupils from St. Thomas' C.E. Primary School which we visited for the second time last Wednesday (report to follow) - Hi to Amy and older sister Lauren, Darren and brother Ethan, William and not forgetting AJ and his friend.

We made lots of new friends and contacts and have even arranged to do a presentation at 1st Astley Cubs next Thursday evening.  We also hope to be doing another guided walk around Pennington Flash in the near future so keeping reading the website for details and have a look at our new calendar here.

Please click on any time for more details.