Field Trip to the British Wildlife Centre

We have been introduced to a new group of home educators based in our (wider) area, and so were invited to the British Wildlife Centre with them. A day of lectures and talks and a guided walk around the centre was enjoyed by the very enthusiastic children. I was really amazed at how bright all the children were, and how much many of them already knew about what was being spoken about. The day started off at 11 with a talk about mammals - what are mammals, how can we identify(specifically British wild mammals) them through their appearance, sound, food they eat, habitat, droppings and their spoor.

We then took a walk around the compound. First up were the red squirrels, these are quite rare, we have plenty of grey squirrels in our area but never see red squirrels.
They were extremely quick and very bold.

The day turned out to be quite cold.
We then had lunch and then went indoors for a talk about the barn(or screech) owl.
And the children got to feel it, the colours of the wings were beautiful.
A very pretty bird.
We then learned about deer, and the different species in Britain, This was the first time we got to see Roe deer.
And then we learned all about little hedgehogs.

Ayla got to feel the spines.
And was so interested she wanted to use both hands.
We then headed out to see the gorgeous foxes - they are not at all like the mangy urban foxes we see from time to time on our roads at night.
They truly were lovely, we got to see them have some dead chicks as snacks.

And although we have seen badgers in movies and books, this was the first time for all of us to see a badger in real life in its sett.
After this the rain really came down, so I went back indoors with Ciara and Ayla, and the rest of the children went on with the group. They got to see the rest of the deer, and the otters which I really wanted to see and unfortunately had to miss. Fortunately this centre is open to the public on the weekends so we will definitely come back as a family and see everything that we can.