OPAL Blog

Bug hunting at Feversham College, Bradford.

fscopal — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:52:51 +0000

90 pupils from Feversham College in Bradford took part in the OPAL Bugs Count Survey on Wednesday 5th October. Pupils hunted around the school grounds to see which bugs lived their.

Bug detectives at Blessed Edward Oldcorne.

fscopal — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:48:12 +0000

A total of 270 pupils at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College carried out the OPAL Bug Count survey on 28th and 29th September 2011. Classes from both Key Stage 3 and 4 took part as part of their science lesson and searched for bugs in the school grounds. Their finding were recorded and entered onto the OPAL website making a great contribution to the national Bug Count survey.

Fun in the sun at Naseby Nature Day

fscopal — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:32:22 +0000

Six local schools and a home education group visited the Naseby Battlefield site on 28th September 2011 for a day full of nature based activities. Pupils carried out the OPAL Biodiversity survey, the OPAL Bugs count survey and visited the nature tables in the Northamptonshire Naturalist Society’s Marquee. The sunshine filled day was enjoyed by all and was organised to mark the opening of the new nature trail at Naseby. Now people can visit the site and learn about both the history and natural history of the local area.

Slapton Open Day

fscopal — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:32:50 +0000

Visitors to Slapton Ley Field Centre’s open day could take part in the OPAL Bug Count in the centre grounds on 20th august. Although it was a wet start the weather cleared to leave a sunny afternoon. A number of families tried the survey with many more taking packs home to try it there. Bugs found in the centre grounds included earthworms, woodlice, snails, spiders, butterflies and beetles. The open day was a great event with local businesses selling goods in the village hall, a variety of different kids activities, pizza making using the outdoor oven and information stalls.

OPAL events at Greet Children’s Centre

fscopal — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:22:56 +0000

Families have carried out OPAL survey activities as part of their exploring nature days during the summer holidays. The majority of the children were under 5 and many of the parents only spoke basic English. This meant the activities had to be basic and easy to follow.

The first session was based at Burberry Brick works nature reserve. Families took part in the OPAL Bugs Count and tried to find as many bugs as they could in 15 minutes in each habitat. The first habitat was on soil and short grass and they found a variety of bugs including grasshoppers, moths and spiders. The second habitat was plants and trees where they found true bugs, beetles and earwigs. The final habitat to look at was hard and man-made surfaces and we headed back to the children’s centre to search around the buildings and paving. The main thing found here were spiders. Both children and adults enjoyed catching creatures in the bug pots to take a closer look.

The second session was based at Ackers pond. Families used nets to take a sample of the pond invertebrates. They used the OPAL water charts to see what they had found. A variety of things were found including a caseless caddis fly larvae, midge larvae, leeches, snails, water shrimps and a water scorpion. The children also looked at the clarity of the water and could see 11 opal symbols on the OPALometer. They also dipped a pH strip into the water to see what colour it went, this showed a pH of 5.5. Both parents and children enjoyed looking at the variety of under water creatures they had collected and were surprised that they had such an accessible wildlife haven in the centre of Sparkhill.

The second session

A bubble filled playground at Lyndon High School, Solihull

fscopal — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:45:19 +0000

Four Key stage 3 classes enjoyed the OPAL climate survey activities during the last week of term at Lyndon High School. Pupils carried out contrail spotting, bubble chasing and measuring the temperature, recording their results for this national survey. Although the sky was overcast so no contrails were spotted, the bubble chase was popular and pupils used a compass to find the wind direction. Pupils also enjoyed measuring the temperature and recording their thermal comfort.

Bug counting in the classroom

fscopal — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:35:10 +0000

Due to heavy rain both Year 4 classes at Heald Place Primary couldn’t venture out to carry out the OPAL bugs count survey on Monday 18th July. Instead they searched for bugs in the soil and leaf litter collected from the school grounds. Pupils really enjoyed the activity and found a variety of creatures. One pupil enjoyed it so much he decided to record it as his favorite memory. “My favorite memory is when we did our habitats work. We investigated animals in leaf litter and we found earwigs, slugs, worms, millipedes and spiders. We use paint brushes to move the leaf litter around. We fed back what we found and we had a look at the bug charts. Finally we looked at a book about bugs and how many legs they have” Year 4 pupil at Heald place

Bug counting at Bridgnorth Endowed High School

fscopal — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:33:34 +0000

A total of 235 Pupils at Bridgnorth Endowed High School carried out an OPAL survey as part of their activities week on 13th and 15th July 2011. On Wednesday 13th 8 year 9 classed searched for bugs around the school grounds comparing soft surfaces,hard man-made areas and plants and trees. Findings included a number of different woodlice species, ants, butterflies, bees and spiders. On Friday 15th two year 8 groups went off site to the fields next to the school and found 2 of the key species; the Devils Coach Horse Beetle and the Green Shieldbug. They also found butterflies, moths, beetles, spiders, crickets, hoverflies, bumblebees and wasps. The results will be entered onto the OPAL website so the findings can be used by scientists.

Pond dipping at Harold park in Bradford

fscopal — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:12:02 +0000

Pond dipping activities were carried out at Harold Park on Saturday 9th July as part of their Gala day. The event was very popular with local people and it was nice to see some of the families who attended last year coming back to do pond dipping again. Over 100 people tried the pond dipping and the health of the lake had significantly improved since last year. Findings included a cased caddis fly larvae and a damselfly larvae which both get a score of 10 indicating that the water is healthy. Other findings were leeches and flatworms, water boatman and water slaters. This was a great community event and it was nice to see all ages getting involved and discovering something new.

OPAL days at Wolverley High School

fscopal — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:59:48 +0000

A total of 13 Year 7 and 8 classes worked with OPAL staff on 5th and 6th July 2011. Pupils carried out a mixture of the Biodiversity, Climate and Bugs Count surveys in the school grounds. The hedgerow proved an important habitat for wildlife with a wide variety of invertebrates found including spiders, beetles and shield bugs. The bubble activities proved popular during the climate survey. The new bug count survey worked well with pupils finding a jersey tiger Moth, green sheildbug and two-spot ladybird on the soft surfaces. Ladybird larvae, beetles, ants and spiders on the hard surfaces. A walk to the wildlife area to see what bugs we could find on the plants and trees was successful with a number of butterflies, crickets, beetles and spiders found highlighting that long grass and trees are important wildlife.