The last of a series of events in Old Hall Gardens organised by Cowbridge Library during the summer holidays, was the Nature Hunt led by Rob and Linda Nottage on Wednesday 25 August.
All photographs have been kindly supplied by Julia Bazley, Senior Library Assistant.
Below is Rob’s account:
While half a dozen 5 to 10-year-olds assembled at the Story Space to be checked in by Julia, we showed some of the moths we had caught at home overnight (and returned them home afterwards). They were all species we’d previously recorded at OHG and were closely examined on fingers and in the magnifying jars provided by Julia.
We next gave each child a leaf from a variety of the garden’s trees, each a distinctly different shape – including Holly, Yew, Ginkgo, Tulip tree, Ash, Lime and Copper Beech. The idea was for them to match their leaf to the relevant tree as we moved around. The first match was at the Liquidambar on the way to the scouts’ bughouse. There, two of the nests from the birdboxes were compared – the Great Tit’s mossy cushion and an unhatched egg (so small!) with the House Sparrow’s woven grass cup.
Once you have young children’s interest, they’re keen to look around and can often see things we ‘grown-ups’ miss. So it was that one lad’s sharp eyes at a lower level spotted the Willow Sawfly caterpillars lined up on the willow leaves they had been feeding on. This is the first time we’ve seen these here.
Moving on and checking out the Ginkgo, Lime and Copper Beech, we stopped to take in the aroma from the delicate leaves of the tall Fennel at the Dragon border. This brought us to the Willow Cabin, and carefully turning over one of the log seats revealed a chunky black beetle with small pincers which provided another ‘first’: a Lesser Stag Beetle. Under another log was a large grub which could well be its earlier larval stage. Feeding on decaying wood, this can take several years before it’s ready to pupate prior to emerging as an adult.
At various points on our circuit of the gardens, we stopped to look under other logs and pieces of material to find some other ‘creepy-crawlies’ that seem to appeal particularly to young children – various slugs, worms, an ant nest and many woodlice. The adults discussed local names for the latter including granny greys and the Welsh mochyn coed = wood pig.
With so much to look at there was just time for Julia to provide each child with a net for some pond dipping, which turned up a selection of pond snails.
Unfortunately it was a cloudy and relatively cool day, so there were no butterflies and few insects on the wing. But there had been plenty to keep the children’s interests for the hour allocated – and the adults too, who appreciated the site and an event to occupy their youngsters.
Old Hall Gardens of Cowbridge 