Wigan school children...osprey enthusiasts!

 

In the past two weeks I've been fortunate to visit two schools in Wigan; Abraham Guest, a secondary school and Winstanley Community Primary school. Pupils at both schools shared their enthusiasm for ospreys and wildlife. Both schools had produced great displays about Sky Hawk and had produced some wonderful wildlife writing. Regrettably, I was so busy that I forgot to take photos at Guest Abraham school, but I have included some photos below of the children's work at Winstanley Primary.

Myself and staff of Winstanley Primary in front of their amazing Sky Hawk display




The wall display of Sky Hawk and some of the children's terrific wildlife writing. The pupils are plotting Ozwold's journey and they were the first to hear from Roy Dennis that Ozwold had arrived in Spain...the news came in during their assembly!


















An anthology of osprey poems by year 5 pupils. The artwork and the the poems are absolutely stunning. I think they should be published!!!! There are some beautiful osprey illustrations and vivid descriptions of ospreys in flight...it's fantastic to see all the children so fired up by wildlife...and lots of very interesting questions too.





Wigan must be a hot-spot of wildlife watchers!



Possible sad news on Joe...

After such a fantastic day at Wigan and buoyed up by news of Ozwold, I've just heard news of possible problems with another osprey named Joe, one of the other tagged ospreys at the Highland Foundation for Wildlife. Joe made a very quick and successful migration to Africa, but his transmissions have recently disappeared. This could be a faulty transmitter...a possibility as the battery was showing low voltage, but it could be that he has run into trouble and not survived. It's a harsh reminder that young ospreys face many dangers and many do not make it through their first year.

You can read about Joe here...

http://www.roydennis.org/osprey/index.asp?id=247&sid=244