Wild Animals and Guy of Warwick 9/4/20


 
Well, good morning everybody!  
I hope you are all still well and getting plenty of exercise every day!
 
This week Spring has definitely arrived: The hawthorn trees are all in leaf, the horse chestnut trees are opening their buds, and we are just waiting for the slowcoaches; ash and oak.  It'll soon be time to look for different plants growing, but mostly this week I've been looking for wild animals.  
Of course, the wild animals in this country now are not as fierce as those that were here a thousand years ago.  A thousand years ago there were fierce bears and wild boar (pigs), big wild cows with enormous horns, lots of deer and even wolves!
 
Click on the link below and I'll tell you a story about them and a famous hero who lived just down the road from you in Warwick.
 
Those fierce animals have gone now; but I've seen lots of deer this week and I've found lots of burrows (underground homes), particularly; badger sets and rabbit warrens.
 
I love badger sets because they are enormous!  On every walk and bike ride I look for them!
 
A whole family of badgers lives in a badger set and they all help with the digging.  Goodness me, can they dig!  When you find a badger's set you will know it because there will be lots of tunnels going into the ground and the tunnels will be about the size of you book bag.  Altogether the tunnels might cover an area bigger than your classroom. 
At this time of the year you can tell if there are badgers living in a badger set because there will be freshly dug earth outside some of the holes.  If there are no badgers in there it might be that a fox is borrowing the set for its Winter den (or earth).
Rabbit warrens are similar, but smaller.
 
So today, for my exercise, I'm going to go for a walk in the countryside around Woodloes and look for animal burrows and foot prints too.  Lets hope I find some, then I can show you good places to look! 
While I'm out for my walk I'm going to make sure I stick to the public footpaths, not wander over the farmer's fields (that would be like someone walking over your garden).  I'll close all the gates behind me and, of course, I'm going to keep 2 metres away from any other people I meet.
I wont disturb the animals in their burrows either by shouting or banging, or trying to climb in and getting stuck like Winnie the Pooh!
 
When I get back I'll mark the walk I took on a map, and post it here for you to follow too.
 
Keir Mitchell

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Wow, after a disappointing start I managed to find evidence of foxes, rabbits, deer and badgers! I had to make the walk a bit longer then I intended though; so you might want to do it over two days if you have little legs.
 
Do remember to keep 2m away from everyone else who is out for a walk, and if the paths are busy, it would be best for you to come back the following day (or perhaps at dusk when you will have a better chance of seeing the animals), rather than make the space crowded.
 
Good luck hunting!
In case you missed it left the video about how to keep everyone safe while you are out and about in the street or in the park is below: