St Mark's WASP

swallows nest

Class 1 — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:40:28 +0000

Frankie and Josie found an abandoned swallow nest in their back garden. It contains cracked egg shells, a soft feather lining and mud and moss. The nest had fallen from a wall.

Video of Mating Emperor Moths

Steve Ogden — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:31:41 +0000

A number of Emperor Moth caterpillars were successfully reared by the school to the pupa stage last summer. Just before Easter this year some of the adult moths began emerging from the pupae!! This video shows a female Emperor Moth that hatched from her pupa last week (well spotted Class 3!) and attracted a male Emperor Moth from the wild. Click on the image below to see the female moth waiting on the outside of the rearing net, the male moth arriving and then mating with her. If you listen to the soundtrack you can hear another male Emperor Moth searching for the female in the net!

Click image to see video of Mating Emperor Moths

Mouse in science garden!

Class 1 — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:11:32 +0000

On Wednesday 21st April, 2010 Lily and I were in the science garden at breack time when we noticed a little mouse by the compost bins! Lily then put a bit of her snack on the floor and the mouse came over and nibbled it a bit then dragged it into a whole in the wall.

By Keren Davies and Lily Harding

slow worm

Class 1 — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:59:56 +0000

The other day I found a slow worm in my garden! My cat was teasing it and flinging it around I rescued it from her, it had a skin wound and it was bleeding but luckily I saved it just in time and it survived!

by Keren Davies

Garden Moth Scheme Summary 4 - the Final Results

Steve Ogden — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:36:58 +0000

The results of the moth trapping to week 36 are shown below:

GMS summary to week 36

sparrows

Class 2 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:27:25 +0000

I have lots of sparrows in my garden. I feed them everyday with seeds.In the winter we make a shelter for them .I will let you know if sparrows are in the shelter.

by Henry Lumley

Week 36 - the final Garden Moth Scheme night!!

Steve Ogden — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:01:24 +0000

Week commencing:	6 November 2009
Date:	8 November
Weather:	dry, clear, min 1C, moderate N winds, 45% moon
Trapped:	yes - 15W actinic
No. of moths:	5 moths
No. of species:	5 species
New for 2009:	none
Comments:	A disappointing COLD night to finish the Garden Moth Scheme.

keren’s chrysaliss update

Class 1 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:09:59 +0000

suprisingly the moth in my garden has come out of its chrysaliss.We are all hoping it will make it through the winter.

moth evening bananza

Class 1 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:09:23 +0000

The school’s moth and bat evening went off with a bang on the 18th of September 2009. In the early evening we searched the school grounds for moths and bats. The bats began to gobble up the moths and only hung around the black soupy depths of the dimly lit sky.

Katie Loader.

katie loader finds moth

Class 1 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:02:09 +0000

Katie found a small brown moth about the size of a thumb nail. It looked evil and vaguely menacing.