We’re continuing to try and provide interactive education material for parents and teachers to use over this lockdown period so have teamed up with our friends at Livability Holton Lee, Dorset Wildlife trust and National Trust to get you to carry out some online birding this spring

Firstly, back when we fist formed charity, one of the projects we invested in was a set of webcams on the Brownsea Lagoon which over the years has provided a really exciting opportunity to watch this exceptionally important habitat. During the winter it plays host to nationally and internationally important numbers of waders and wildfowl. But as winter gives way to spring, the lagoon acts as a breeding haven for Poole Harbours important Sandwich and Common Tern colony. Through April these birds will be returning to breed whilst many other species use the lagoon as a feeding service station as they make their way to other places around the world! So, to get you looking in detail, we’ve created some ID sheets for you to use online, or to print out to see how many species you can find over the course of the spring and summer.

Several years ago we also installed a simple bird feeder cam at Livability Holton Lee which allows you to watch all the comings and goings of a busy feeding station within Poole Harbour. There’s no doubt that watching bird feeders was a big inspiration for many people getting into natural history, so, just like our Brownsea ID sheets, we’ve created a set of Bird Feeder ID sheets for you to use with children (or for your self) to get you looking in detail at some of the bird you might expect to see your selves either in your gardens out in local parks.

Here are the links to the three webcams you’ll need…….

Livability Holton Lee Feeder Cam 

Brownsea Lagoon – Elevated Hide 

Brownsea Lagoon Macdonald Hide 

Here are the links to the ID sheets for each camera 

Holton Lee Feeding Station

Printer Friendly Holton Lee Feeding Station

Brownsea Lagoon Cam Tick Sheet

Printer-friendly Brownsea Lagoon

Goldfinch on Holton Lee Feeder Cam

We have covered 5 topics, including the final pack today on Poole Harbour and the translocation project. We hope you have enjoyed learning about Ospreys from home and have managed to get involved in all the activities.

The final PDF can be found here: World Osprey Week Translocation

Join us in learning about the history of Ospreys in the UK in the new topic. You can download the full PDF here: World Osprey Week History

Check back in tomorrow for the final instalment. We hope you enjoy today’s topic!

We hope you enjoy this next topic and have been enjoying learning about Ospreys so far. As usual, you can find the full PDF download here: World Osprey Week Migration

Tomorrow we will have another new topic, so remember to check back in!

It’s World Osprey Week (23rd-28th March) and, while schools are closed, we want to use the opportunity to increase education about Ospreys and the Translocation Project, through providing material for families to use at home. Each day this week we will post a new topic, along with activities to make the learning more fun.

Let us know if you use the materials, what you learn and whether you see any Ospreys on our webcam. Follow the link to download the PDF for Osprey Learning Day 1: World Osprey Week Introduction

We hope you enjoy!