GBC Grade 2 Bird Ringing Edu Day
The Grade 2’s from Greenwood Bay College joined Nature’s Valley Trust for a bird ringing and flower walk outing on the 31 st July 2019.
The children learned about endangered species and in future will be joining NVT for many more outings to learn about how to help conserve nature.
It was a chilly start for bird ringing but gave way to a beautiful sunny morning in Kalander Koof. The GBC, grade 2’s were very excited to learn more about birds. Among the beautiful feathered friends, they had some great catches of Cape Sugarbird; Cape White-eye; Southern Double-collared Sunbird; and Cape Robin-chat.
Kellyn then took the GBC learners on a small flower walk through the fynbos of the Kalander Kloof. The walk started off with some important rules and interesting facts about fynbos and its uniqueness. Learners were shown different plants and their interesting uses. These included the medicinal value of buchu; how Thymelaeaceae can be used as a rope; and how young restios were once used as paintbrushes.
The learners had an example of a shoe, in their goodie bags showing how the bark of Thymelaeaceae was used as a shoelace, and how the best way to remember the name is to sound it out like “tie-me-a-lacy”.
On the last stop of the flower walk, the learners had the opportunity to do some unique painting of their own of a Protea picture using a paper straw (cut to simulate a Restio) and some cotton wool to emulate how bushmen used Restios and wild rosemary to create beautiful paintings and rock art. There were some great Protea paintings produced by the kids.
The morning was greatly enjoyed by all who had fun seeing the beautiful birds up close and a very interesting flower walk.