We found a hedgehog

John helped us reset our stoat trap.  He showed us how it worked and we learned why we don't put our fingers near a set trap when it chopped a piece of wood in half.  We hope that it will catch stoats and rats that kill our beautiful native birds, and eat their food.










As we were walking along the new track we call "pine cone track"  we found a tiny baby hedgehog that had died.

We looked at it very carefully, it's spines were still a little soft so we decided it wasn't very old.  It's tummy was furry like a cat.  It had a very long snuffly nose to find insects, and little claws for scraping insects out.  When we looked closely we could see some eggs, and some tiny maggots.  We moved it carefully off the middle of the track and made a place for it to rest.  Next week we will visit it again to see how it has decayed.

Leaf Angels in Fiordland

Tree climbing and making leaf angels were on the agenda at Nature Discovery today.  We had to lie very still so that the children and parents could put the leaves around our body.  Stefan said "We look like stars."  Then we had turns at covering each other with leaves.  John had something special in his pocket today to show us.  It was two peanut butter wax moulds that you nail to a tree and any animal that likes the smell will bite into it and an impression of there teeth marks will be left.  The children had turns at guessing what type of animal would bite into it, we had guesses of birds, rats and even dinosaurs and dragons!!  We can't wait to go back next Monday and see what marks are left in it.

A rainy day in Fiordland

Today was the first rain we have had in nearly two weeks.  It was VERY HEAVY rain and we all got very wet, but we still had lots of fun.  We found some old logs by the Gnuff house to saw.  

 We all warmed up with a nice warm drink of Milo.  We warmed our hands by the thermette and on our cups.

Sophie found a toadstool that looked just like a flower.

John and the children made a really long snake with fir cones. some of us wrote our names with cones.

Nearby the weta’s we discovered a foamy patch at the bottom of a fir tree, and the same thing on another fir tree nearby.  It was where the water was dripping down the tree.  We thought it might be the rain and the sap mixing together.

Then it was back to the shed to warm up by the fire and have lunch - then the sun came out!

Spiders in Fiordland

 Monday 3rd December

Sophie discovered a family of spiders on a piece of bark on one of the gum trees near the car park.

It was an exciting find as next to the spider was a small round white spider’s nest.  Also on the same piece of bark there was a clear sac with 2 baby spiders inside it.  We could see them moving around under the sac cover. 

Ollie said, “ We found the spider on a tree.  Sophie found it.”

Sophie said, “I found a spider and a nest, just a wee one.  It was on the tree.  There was a spider who was growing.”

When asked where they were growing, Sophie  explained her theory on why they were inside the sac.

Sophie: “It was a thing that protects it and it doesn’t fall out cos its not old enough.”

Ollie said, “It was crazy cos it couldn’t find its home.”

Morgan said, “Sophie found a spider on a piece of bark.  There was baby spiders and there was a cover over them to keep them safe in case there was danger. There were just two.  They were just moving and then they were still cos they were frightened of all the people around them. We put them back where they were cos they’ve got nature.

On the same tree where we found the spider and her babies, we discovered an even bigger spider. The children decided that it must be the Daddy spider. We also found another spider nest that had many babies inside it.

Morgan said, “The big Daddy spider on the tree, it was the other spider we found.”

John caught the spider so that the children could get a closer look at it.

Ollie and Morgan were very courageous and let the spider crawl on their hands.

 Morgan said, “He was hanging off me with his web.  It feeled like (the web) like the soft thing on the baby spiders that we found.  The cover around the baby spiders. We dropped it a bit but John put it back on the tree cos he was scared of us.”

Ollie said, “I shake it off when it landed on my hand.”

John opened up a nest so the children could see the baby spiders on Ollie’s hand.  They were very tiny.

Ollie said,”The babies were in there, in a sac. They were racing around.  Lots and lots of baby spiders.  They were tickly.”

Sophie said, “Ollie had a lot of little spiders on Ollie’s hand.  They were in the tree as well.”

Morgan said, “These tiny ones were in the nest and Ollie put them in his pocket to put them in his spider cage at home.”

Everyone was fascinated by the spiders and we were able to see how the babies remained protected until they were big enough and old enough to venture out and explore the world and make their own homes.

Who needs video, DVD or TV when you can experience it in the flesh.  You can  see, hear, feel/touch and smell what is around you.  There isn't a better way to explore, experience and learn.  

The photos say it all!!!!

Finding a Tui

It's always a sad surprise when we discover a dead native bird.  Today we found a dead Tui, the children took turns at sharing their thoughts about how it died.  What made this discovery a wee bit different was this Tui was wearing a tag on it's leg.  We decided that we should take the Tui to the DOC staff at the bird park so they could investigate a bit more about the tag for us.  While at the bird park we got to feed some ducks they came right up to us and took the grass from our hands.  We also saw the Takehe and John showed us the special part of the plant they eat.  We stripped the hard outer layer of the tussock off and inside was a nice white middle, this is the part the Takehe like, John said that we could eat it too so we all had a taste some liked it and some of us didn't.  Another exciting event to happen was Jasper's pet duck Wilson came to see us.  He has grown into a nice big Paradise duck, Wilson was very friendly and let us touch him, I think he remembered us.  Paris our visiting College student managed to catch a mallard duck and the children were very excited to be able to see the different colours, the nice soft feathers under it's wing and touch it's webbed feet.  All in all a very exciting day at Nature Discovery, no wonder we are all a wee bit tired this afternoon.  

There was a hive of activity at Nature Discovery today.  We found a small rotten log that when we touch it, it fell into two pieces.  Inside there were 6 huhu grubs in various stages of metamorphosing  into huhu beetles.  It was the first time that we had witness this so after everyone had a good look we covered them back up.  The children wanted to make sure they were extra protected and put other logs and pine leaves around them to keep them safe.  What an amazing discovery and one we will never forget.  Some of the children got really creative with nature and made wreaths, broom flower arrangements and colourful pictures.

Fun in the Sun in Fiordland

Wednesday 7th November 2012

It was a beautiful sunny Fiordland day at Nature Discovery.
We decided to go to the 'Rotten Log' to see if the water had gone.
When we got there, we discovered that there was even more water than last time.
We all had fun exploring and discovering different ways to get up the grassy hill.  Some of us went through the water and others skirted around the edges to find tracks through the scrub.

We had fun playing in the water, you could see the grass floating near the top of the water.  It made the puddle look green.  Kaira loved being in the water, feeling the grass and finding logs hidden under the water.

 There was a log stretching across the water and going up above the bank on the other side.  We all enjoyed the challenge of balancing as we crossed it. One branch looked like the antlers on a deer so we called it a 'Stag Tree.  

 Kaira said, "I like climbing to the top and then I sat on the top.  It is a Stag tree because it has antlers ears like a real deer.  It feeled lumpy and I can see far away places."

 Greer said, "I'm jumping in the puddle.  It was cold and I got wet.  I balanced on the tree, it was a bit tricky.  I climbed the tree and I saw a birdie."

 Nina said, "I had lots of fun playing on the tree and in the puddle.  I got really messy and I fell in. We didn't take out the tools, that was really good, we didn't have to tidy up. The water was really gooey."

 Grace and Tom found tracks to get up the hill and found a nice place in the sun in the grass where they could see what everyone was doing.
Grace said, " I played in the mud and sit on the big hill.  I saw all the people down in the mud, playing in the mud and having morning tea too.   I liked it up on the hill cos it was comfy."

 Tom said, " I crashed through the bushes cos I had to get through straight ahead in the middle of the bushes. I got to the top of the hill.  I saw people and grass and I pulled the grass.  It was a bit comfy.  I saw stuff that I couldn't see when I was on the ground."