June 2010
Monmouth School win VIP day at the Natural History Museum
A group of pupils from Osbaston Primary School in Monmouth have won £1,000 for their school and a special VIP trip to the Natural History Museum in London.
The children entered a competition run by OPAL in partnership with National Geographic Kids magazine.
Entrants were asked to come up with imaginative ways they could improve their school grounds for wildlife.
More than 200 entries were received, with the ideas expressed in everything from poetry to drawings.
The winning entry included practical suggestions such as flowerbeds and wormeries, combined with more elaborate constructions such as mini-beast mansions.
After being presented with the prize money, the children were treated to free entry to The Deep exhibition and got to handle some of the Museum’s specimens in the Investigate Centre.
Teacher Sian Vaughan Williams said, 'The children were extremely excited when they found out that their entry was picked as the winner. This is the first time many of them have been to the Natural History Museum so it really is a treat. We are looking forward to using the money to bring some of their ideas for the playground to life!'.
Go forth and identify
Learn to identify local wildlife with the many guides and keys now available on the OPAL site.
From trees and duckweeds to damselflies and amphibians, the new identification section on the OPAL website offers a growing collection of resources to help aspiring biologists of all ages put a name to local wildlife.
Many of the identification guides have been produced by OPAL for our popular national surveys. Covering common plants and animals from lichens to earthworms, the easy-to-follow guides all have clear photo examples.
As well as the survey guides, you’ll also find links to other useful identification resources such as the Natural History Museum’s bug gallery and forums.
New identification guides will be added over the coming weeks and months, so be sure to check back regularly.
Interested in improving your identification skills?
OPAL organises free beginner courses in identifying common birds, moths, plants, insects and other wildlife.
All upcoming courses are listed on our events calendar. We hope to see you on one soon.
Two schools receive lichen award
Baskerville School in Birmingham and Nottingham High School for Girls have shared an award from the British Lichen Society to help with their lichen research.
After taking part in the OPAL air survey, both schools became interested in investigating the effects of air pollution on lichens. The Tom Chester award from the British Lichen Society supports the study of lichens with grants of up to £250.
Baskerville School is for autistic students of all ages. It is aiming to explore the relationship between lichen cover and the position of trees, based on the many apple trees in the school grounds. A grant of £200 has helped to pay for a digital camera to record the twigs and lichens.
Nottingham High School for Girls is organising a number of related projects involving 32 of its Year 10 students. Mentored by OPAL community scientist Amy Rogers, the students will investigate lichen sensitivity to nitrogen pollutants from individual sources such as pig farms and power stations. They will also compare samples along a line from inner-city Nottingham to rural Nottinghamshire.
The award has helped the school to buy two flat head pH meters and a digital camera to support their work.
OPAL asks Hull residents to help count hedgehogs
OPAL researchers at the University of York are asking East Hull residents to help monitor the numbers of one of the UK’s most distinctive animals.
Rural hedgehog populations have declined in recent years due to habitat loss and changes in farming. OPAL scientists want to find out how many hedgehogs are now taking refuge in urban green spaces such as gardens and parks.
As part of the study, coloured tags will be attached to the spines of hedgehogs in the Marfleet, Greatfield and Kingswood areas of Hull. The tags are harmless to the hedgehogs, and will fall off within a few months.
OPAL researcher Sal Hobbs explains, 'We need residents to spot hedgehogs and to tell us the colour of the tag, the letters printed on it and the exact location of the animal. This information will help us to plot a map of where the different hedgehogs are going, how far they travel, and which gardens they choose to visit.
'The information that the community helps us gather will be extremely valuable in devising conservation measures for this wonderful species.'
The hedgehog study has been organised by scientists at the Environment Department and the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York.
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