With the end of July comes the last of our Biosphere Explorer Summer events. We’ve pulled together some of our favourite photos in this gallery blog, and a sneak peek of something else Biosphere Explorers has been up to…
Our first event was at Kirkcudbright, in the nearby Barrhill Woods. We looked for minibeasts with our magnifying glasses amongst leaf litter, under rocks, and even in the pitfall traps that Shalla set up the evening before. These traps catch minibeasts which walk on the ground - it's important to make sure it won't be raining overnight when you make these. Shalla read out her story Sammy the Rainbow Snail which went down a treat!
For our second event, we were at Threave Estate - unfortunately we had a problem with a few no-shows, but the family that came out on the nature trail with us had a blast. We pointed out flowers like campions and the smelly woundwort, watched hoverflies alight on flowers, and caught a glimpse of an osprey. We even measured some of the trees there and found the oldest oak in the woods.
Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the third event, also in Threave Estate. This was a drop in session for families with some pebble paining and crafts back at the base.
Finally, just yesterday we finished with a lovely event at New Galloway Woods. We walked around the circular trail with our ID sheets and looked at the many different trees, as well as measuring them using a simple estimation formula. Shalla again read out her story Sammy the Rainbow Snail to the younger ones while they painted pebbles with flowers (particularly sunflowers!).
Looking ahead, what's next for Biosphere Explorers 2? We'll be (hopefully) back in schools in the Galloway Glens area and teaching the teachers on how to use our resource packs created during the first project. We have some big aspirations for the game, also created by Shalla - watch a glimpse below...
As always, thanks to the Galloway Glens for funding this project.