Make...an origami fox

1.

4. 5. 6. 7.

2. 3.

Hedgerow Safari

Make an insect sweep net

Over 600 plantspecies, 1,500insects, 65 birdsand 20 mammalshave beenrecorded at sometime living orfeeding inhedgerows.

There is an estimated 200,000 miles ofhedgerows in Britain, enough to goaround the world eight times.

Bats roost during the day in the holesand hollows of mature hedge trees,and feed on the countless insects thathedges attract. Watch out for themhunting above the hedge in evening.

A well-managed hedge will provide food,nesting sites and protective cover for avast array of wildlife. In return for foodand lodging, many of these species helpthe farmer by consuming the pestspecies that threaten his crops.

Hedges are the main habitat for at least47 species of conservation concern inthe UK, including13 globallythreatened orrapidly declining ones.

Your Packchallenge

As a Pack make your insectnets ready to go on your

Hedgerow Safari.Your leader will book

this for your group.

Birds nest and feed in hedgerows.They are easy tospot especially atdawn and dusk whenthey are most active.A pair of binoculars and a good birdfield guide will help you identify them.

You can also learn torecognise them bytheir song.

OMSCo Conservation Badge

Equipment list:

Instructions

1 wire coat hangerA wooden pole (broom handle or a cane)An old pillowcase (preferably white)A needle and some thread or a stapler2 jubilee clips

1. Straighten the coat hanger.Bend it into a circle. Sharplybend each end of the wire toform two arms.

2. Cut the pillowcase in half.Then turn the edge of thepillowcase over the edge of thewire hoop. You can either stapleor sew this in place.

3. Attach the wire arms to the woodenpole using jubilee clips.

Make...an origami bat1.

5.

8.

2.

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3.

7. 9.

4.

Dormouse

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Dormouse facts:Dormice are endangered. In the last100 years they have disappeared fromover half of the areas they used to live.Often, this is because their habitat islost when woodland is cut down andolder trees with nest holes are removed.Putting up nest boxes has helped tobring them back in some areas.

Dormice are really cute with big eyes, asandy-coloured coat and furry tails,sometimes with a white tip. If caught bya predator, the skin of the tail may comeoff allowing the dormouse to escape butit does grow back eventually. They arenocturnal and very shy so extremelyhard to spot in the wild.

Dormice weave a round nest, often outof honeysuckle bark, which they make inholes in trees. In recent years, manyboxes have been put up for dormice andthey will make their nests in these. Theyhave only one or two litters a year, unlikewoodmice which will have many litters inone year.

Hedgerows on organic farms are goodplaces for dormice to feed and travelthrough, as they are not cut too often andproduce lots of flowers and fruit.

Books about dormice:The Dormouse by P Bright and P Morris,published by The Mammal SocietyDormice by P Morris, published by WhittetBooks

Using this information, makea display about dormiceand their conservation.You may want to findsome pictures, aswell as somehoneysuckle, hawthorn,maybe a dormouse nestbox (your local wildlifetrust may have one ofthese) and somehazelnuts thathave been eaten by dormice.

NB. Dormice are not found in Scotland.Instead of the dormouse, you may want todo a display about the pine marten orwildcat, both of which are endangeredmammals found in Scotland. The MammalSociety produce cheap booklets about bothof these, or you can look on the internet.

Your Pack challenge

The name ‘dormouse’ comes from thesame root as ‘dormir’, the French word for‘to sleep’. This is appropriate becausethey are one of only three species ofBritish mammals that truly hibernate(along with bats and hedgehogs). Also, inearly summer when there isn’t much foodavailable for them, dormice save energyby going into torpor, which is a very deepsleep. This is why the dormouse in Alice inWonderland couldn’t stay awake!

Dormice live and forage in trees andavoid coming down to the ground

except to hibernate. This makesit hard for them to be caught

by predators so they can live for up to sevenyears, compared with mice or voles which

rarely live more than six months.

Did youknow...

Dormice eat mainly flowers, nuts andberries so they love hawthorn,honeysuckle and especially hazelnuts -in some places they are knownas Hazelmice. If you find ahazelnut shell with a roundhole in it, you can find outwhether a dormouse haseaten it by looking at the teethmarks around the edge of the hole.

Hazelnut image by Carol Roberts from © FieldStudies Council). Available from www.field-studies-council.org

Guide to hedgerows

Web of Life GameYou will need:

A ball of string

Cards with the names of each ofthe following organisms written on them:

sun

earthworm

dead leaf

snail

bumblebee

ant

butterfly

living leaf

mushroom

spider

flower

owl

rock

river

tree

squirrel

grass

woodpecker

snake

soil

mouse

rain

frog

deer

How to play:

Sit in a circle.

Each player takes a card from a pile inthe middle and holds it up so thateveryone can see the name of theorganism on the card.

The person with the Tree card starts offthe game by tossing the ball of twine tosomeone else in the circle.

The person who catches the ball tries toexplain how the organism on his or hercard interacts with the Tree. Anyone inthe group can join in to help out.

Next, the person who caught the ballholds onto the string and tosses the ballto a third person.

The third person explains how theorganism on his or her card interactswith the second person's organism. Ifthe player gets stuck, anyone in thegame can make a guess.

The game continues until everyone hashad a turn at catching the twine.

The twine is now complex andtangled—everyone in the group isconnected to everyone else.

Players can also talk about how theirorganisms are connected to others thatcame up earlier in the game.

Choose one of the organisms in the game.Can anyone predict what would happen ifit was removed from the web? Which otherorganisms would be affected?

What would happen if you cut the twinewith scissors? What effect would this haveon the ecosystem?

The tangled ball of twine has formed aweb, just like the complicated web of life inan ecosystem. The web shows how closelyorganisms in an ecosystem interact withone another. Anything that happens to partof the web has an effect on the wholesystem.

Step 5 When it’s doneYour compost is ready to use when it looksdark and crumbly and has a lovely warm,earthy smell. It can then be used in yourforest garden or in containers, windowboxes or hanging baskets.

By making your own compost you arehelping to send less rubbish to landfill,reducing harmful methane emissions andthe need for chemical fertilisers.

Making compostStep 3 What goes in?The key to successful compost making is tohave a good mix of ‘greens’ and ‘browns’.

Compost is the result of a natural processwhich transforms kitchen and gardenwaste into a nutrient rich food for yourgarden – it’s nature’s way of recycling!

So how do I do it?Step 1 The bin

Step 2 Where to put it

You can make your own compost binfrom a variety of readily availablematerials – four wooden palletsupended and tied togetherwith string makesa perfectlygood bin.Use apiece of oldcarpet as a ‘lid’.Alternatively, mostcouncils will supply lowcost compost bins.

Place your bin somewherefairly sunny and warm. On bare soil isbest but you can stand it on slabs orconcrete, just put a layer of soil or moistscrunched up cardboard in the bottom.

Greens are wet, soft materialsthat are high in nitrogen,such as

Raw vegetable & fruit wasteTea bagsCoffee grinds & filtersAnnual weedsGrass clippings

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Browns are dry, harder, absorbentmaterials that are high in carbon, such as

PaperCardboard includingegg boxes & loo rollsEggshellsStraw & hayHair

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Things NOT to compost includeMeat & fish scrapsCooked foodDairy productsBreadCat litterDog poo

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If your heap seems a bit dry, water itlightly and increase your greens; if it’s abit wet and smelly add more browns.

Step 4 What happens next?Once you’ve filled your compostbin you can relax – compost justhappens!

A compost heap is a magnet for allkinds of wildlife, including frogs andtoads, slow worms and even grasssnakes. Give the heap a stir occasionallyand you may see some of the followingmini beasts chomping their way throughyour rubbish!You might see

Tiger wormsEarwigsGround beetles & woodliceMillipedes & centipedesSlugs & snails

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OMSCo Conservation Badge

Did youknow...?The UK produces enough waste to fill the

Albert Hall every two hours

On average, each of us throwsaway seven times our body weight every year

Much of this waste could be Reduced,Reused, Recycled or.... COMPOSTED

Compost GameYour will need three containers, one of eachmarked ‘Greens’, ‘Browns’ and‘Uncompostable’.

Make three sets of cards with pictures of theitems in the list on the right of the page. Ifyou can't find pictures, you can write thenames of the items. Each set needs to bedifferent in some way (eg. square, round,rectangular).

Split the group into teams and name themwith the same shapes as you've used for thecards (Square, Round and Rectangle teams).

Each team forms a queue. The first person ineach team is given a card. They decidewhether the item on it is ‘Green’, ‘Brown’ or‘Uncompostable’ and run to the correctcontainer and put in their card.

On the way back, they collect another cardwhich they hand to the next person in theteam who then has to put it in the correctcontainer and so on.

When all the teams have finished, check howmany cards are in the right container. Theteam with the most correct cards wins.

Greens

Annual weedsComfrey leavesCoffee groundsGrass mowingsHayNettlesSeaweedUncooked vegetable & fruit waste

CardboardEgg boxesHairNewspaperSawdustStrawPaper bagsWool socksSweetcorn cobsToilet rolls

Tin cansGlassPlastic bottlesCooked foodCrisp packetsStonesBonesPlastic bags

Browns

Do not compost - but most can be recycled in other ways

Sort out the items below into Greens or Browns or Can’t Be Composted

Plant a forest garden

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A forest garden is made up of at leastthree layers:

This is the tallest layer and is made up offruit or nut trees such as apples, pears,hazelnuts etc.

This layer is planted under and aroundthe tree layer. This is usually made up ofsoft fruit bushes eg raspberries,gooseberries, blackcurrants etc.

This layer is planted under and aroundthe shrub layer, and also used to fill gapsand provide ground cover. Edible plantssuch as strawberries, mint, pumpkinsand squash fall into this category.

The Top Layer – Trees

The Middle Layer – Shrubs

The Lower Layer – Herbaceous

Did youknow...

Despite the name, youdon’t need a large amount of land to

create a forest garden. The principles offorest gardening are adaptable to

quite small areas, evencontainer gardens. Forest

gardens are also suited to allotments,community groups and

schools.

Activities

Create a recipe using the crops fromyour forest garden – here’s one to getyou started:

A forest garden is a special garden madeup of trees and shrubs grown in a way thatmimics a natural woodland. It providesa crop, usually edible, but possibly for fueland other useful materials.

People have been managing forests forfood and fuel since Neolithic times (4000– 2500BC). A man named Robert Hartwas the pioneer of what is now termedforest gardening in Britain, creating thecountry’s first complete forest garden onWenlock Edge in Shropshire in the1970’s.

Forest gardening is a natural,sustainable way of gardening. A forestgarden makes an excellent home for allkinds of birds and other wildlife, as wellas providing food and materials forhumans.Forest gardens generally need lesswork than some other kinds ofgarden. Harvesting yourcrop is often the mostyou’ll have to do!

As part of a group plant a forest garden.

Decide what kind of fruits, nuts and edibleplants you would like to grow. Try to growthings that you and your friends/familyactually like to eat!

Make sure that you choose varieties that willcomfortably fill the available space.Remember that all plants need a certainamount of light to grow and ripen fruit. Youdon’t want to grow a jungle!

Standard size fruit trees are great for a largegarden or allotment, but dwarf or semi-dwarf

self-fertile fruittrees are best for smaller areas.Lots of dwarf fruit trees, fruit bushesand herbs will grow very successfullyin pots. You could easily grow a miniforest garden with just one fruit tree,a couple of fruit bushes and a few herbsgrouped together!

Chocolate coated apples12 apples12 lollipop or skewer sticksOrganic dark chocolateWaxed paperSprinkles or nuts (opt)

Insert sticks into apple cores and put infridge. Melt chocolate over a bowl of hotwater. Dip apples into chocolate, place onwax paper. Put in the fridge for 15 mins.You can dip them in sprinkles or nuts too!

Makeyour own

tree guardsCarefully cut off the top about 2 cmabove the handle hole.

Turn upside down and insert thesupporting cane into the handle part ofthe container. The small overhang ofplastic you left will help grip the cane.

Plant your sapling and place your treeguard very carefully over the plant.Check which direction the prevailingwind comes from and make sure thehandle faces that way so that it doesn'tswivel in the wind. Push the cane atleast 15cms into the ground.

Saplings (young trees) can be destroyedby rabbits and other animals, which loveto eat them. They also need to besupported so that the wind and raindoesn't blow them over. To protect yourtrees while they grow you can make treeguards out of plastic milk bottles (4 or 6pint). These can be threaded over thesupporting canes.

Take a plastic 4 or 6 pint milk cartonand wash it out.

Cut off the bottom of the container witha pair of scissors

OMSCo Conservation Badge

Barn Owl Did youknow...

Because barn owls hunt at night,are pure white underneath

and fly silently, they aresometimes known as

Ghost Owls. Oh, andthey don’t hoot, they

screech.Spooky!

Barn Owl FactsThe barn owl was the most common owlin Britain during the 18th and 19thcenturies. The population began todecline in the latter half of the 1800s,and by 1932 there were estimated to besome 12,000 pairs in England andWales. Intensive farming and the use ofpesticides after WW2 reduced the figureto around 3,800.

Barn owls can be found on mixedfarmland with hedges, copses andareas of rough grassland. Organic farmswhere pesticides aren’t used are goodplaces for barn owls.

Barn owls have amazing hearing andhunt by sound rather than by sight. Theyhave a concave heart-shaped facial discthat acts like a radar dish, funnellingsound towards the ears. These areasymmetric, meaning one ear is higher

The BoxTo give the best chance of success, your nest boxshould be put up by November, although there areno guarantees that it will be used in the nextbreeding year. You can put it in an old barn, onisolated farmland trees or on the edge of a woodedarea, overlooking open land where they can hunt.They need a clear flight path to and from the box.

Boxes should ideally beplaced around 15 feethigh (to avoid vandalism)and face south-east,but more importantly,facing away fromprevailing windand rain.

To find out more aboutbarn owls and whereyou can see them, go towww.barnowl.co.uk.Useful books are Barn Owlsin Britain by Jeff Martinpublished by Whittet Books,and Analysis of Owl Pellets byDerek Yalden published byThe Mammal Society

than the other, and this allows barn owlsto detect the location of their prey withpinpoint accuracy.

Owls eat their prey whole, but regurgitatethe bones, fur and other indigestible bitsas owl pellets. You may find these in yourowl box or in a barn that owls are using.You can pull the pellets apart and try andidentify the bones to find out what’s beeneaten (usually voles, mice and shrews).

376mm

376mm

376

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376mm

376mm

340mm

345mm

100mm

70mm

150 mm

20mm

400mm

420mm 420mm

400mm 400mm

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m

83

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40

0 m

m

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0m

m

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42

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m

FLOORLEFT SIDE

FRONT

FRONT

RIGHT SIDE

BACK

16mm drain holes

Drain holesCorner bracing

8mm x 70mm coach screw

4.5mm x 25mm screws20mm vent holes

TOP - SIDE

BOTTOM - BACK

SIDE - BACK

SIDE - BACK

TOP - SIDE

TOP - BACK

BOTTOM - SIDE

TOP - FRONT

BOTTOM - SIDE

30mm

CORNER BRACING

UPRIGHTSUPPORT

FRONT FASTENINGTIMBER BLOCK

Materials

12mm exterior ply 1220mm x 2440mm (for box panels)

3.5m of 18mm x 30mm sawn timber (for corner bracing)

830mm of 20mm x 70mm PSE timber (for support)

68 4.5mm x 25mm screws (for screwing main box panels)

2 M8 x 70mm coach screws (for attaching support to building)

2 M8 x 25mm penny washers (to be used with coach screws)

2 150mm strap hinges (for hinging front panel to top)

16 3.5mm x 12mm screws (for attaching hinges)

Assembly

1. Cut ply into panels as shown on plan

2. Cut corner bracing as follows:4 x 376mm (top and floor sides)3 x 340mm (top front, top & floor back)3 x 345mm (floor sides)1 x 100mm (front fastening timber block)

3. Assemble panels starting with the floor and sides. Use corner bracing and 12 screwsper panel (3 along each side). Pre-drill screw holes with 4.5mm drill

4. Fit top and back panel in same fashion

5. Drill 16mm evenly spaced drain holes in floor panel

6. Fit upright support using 8 evenly spaced screws. Drill 8mm hole both ends to takecoach screws

7. Cut 150mm entry hole in front panel. Fit to top using strap hinges and 12mm screws

8. Fit timber block to front edge of floor panel to take front fastening screw

9. Paint whole box with eco-friendly waterproof timber paint

10. Screw upright in selected location

Make...a Barn Owl Nest Box

Fixing screw