May has been a busy month for in-person wildlife gardening workshops which is great as this is my public engagement project. I have now taken over organising and running these workshops and making sure we hit our targets, which has been good experience and good fun! This month I ran several workshops with two groups; the Bridge of Allan Cubs and the Central Scotland Young Carers. All of the workshops involve a talk/discussion on amphibians, reptiles and wildlife gardening, followed by a model garden activity, surveying and a practical activity.
The practical activity varies from session to session but usually involves creating a wildlife friendly feature such as a pond – this tends to be the part people enjoy the most. This month the Young Carers created wonderful toad abodes in the form of painted upside down plant pots which provide shelter for wildlife, and built deadwood fencing around a local pond in Clackmannanshire to help protect the pondlife. I also took the Cubs ‘stream dipping’ to identify the different creatures that we found which was brilliant fun, despite getting a bit wet!
This month I have also been working on another article for Croaking Science. I love writing so having the opportunity to write these articles has been really enjoyable for me. The article is about some of the remarkable amphibian and reptile adaptations to cold-climates, including crazy Arctic species which can even survive being frozen. However British species should not be underestimated either! Living in the cold, high-altitude Scottish mountains is no mean feat, yet common frogs are able to survive and breed here. It is also incredible that cold-blooded leatherback turtles tolerate our freezing waters, thanks to efficient physiological adaptations that help them maintain their core body temperature. Click here to find out how these and other species survive!
