Today we travelled with Steve to Dungeness with is about 60 miles east along the south coast. Steve was the main speaker in a science teacher’s conference about developing school grounds for wildlife conservation and as a resource to teaching.
Last year, Bella and I were one of the main presentations here as we shared our message about oceans and freshwater and fun ways children could learn about it in the classroom and by visiting sites.
This year I came along for the ride to show Abby the nature reserve.
Wave action, called long shore drift, moves the pebbles from west to east.
Dungeness is where many the pebbles that the waves move along the beach
eventually end up.
We took a close look at the yellow horned poppy a coastal
plant that also grows at Shoreham.These yellow flowers become seed pods that look like horns. They are spring loaded so when the seeds are ready the pod splits open and catapults the seeds across the beach where some will grow into new plants.
We explored the two hides nearest the reserve center and saw lots of water birds, but I only identified a few because I did not bring my binoculars.
As we walked around I heard a lot of noise coming from behind a mud bank. We peeked over teh top and saw a pair of oyster catchers nesting on the
shingle.
Bye for now
