What a glorious day at Castle Kennedy Gardens for the first Garden Ranger events of the season. The weather was beautiful and the gardens were looking spectacular in the sun, a lovely setting for these family activities.
Our intrepid explorers set off with nets and collecting trays at the ready to see what they could find at the Lilly Pond. Even before exploring the pond we spotted colourful damselflies at the edge. We spotted lots of tadpoles, newts and beetles swimming in the Lilly pond as we carefully looked over the edge before starting to use our nets. In fact there was so much pond life that even when we were just filling our trays with water we were already catching pond creatures. The first thing we looked at was a great diving beetle larvae and everyone was excited to see through the magnifying viewers especially its massive jaws. We moved around the pond into the shade because it was so sunny and we found that different creatures liked to be out of the sun too. Another move back into the sun and we were able to spot some of the pond’s dragonflies flying above the water and found lots of tadpoles with their back legs just developing and also young newts which grow their front legs first and still had their feathery gills. Pond successfully explored we headed back to clean the nets and trays ready for another day of ponddipping in the future.
Enjoying the sun and looking at the creatures in the pond
It may seem strange to have a fire on a baking hot day however it is important to know how to have a fire without it setting fire to the surroundings. Then of course you get to cook and eat some great Campfire Treats too. Even though everyone had just had lunch in the Castle Kennedy Tearoom they had left a bit of room for marshmallows, chocolate bananas and some freshly made scones and jam. At the end we put charcoal patterns on our faces to show that we were the fire crew. I am not sure if the other visitors were envious or scared but we certainly got some slightly strange looks as we walked back. Another successful and fun day of Garden Ranger Activities.
Cooking our Campfire Treats
Don’t worry if you missed out on these activities we have lots more planned for you over the Summer Holidays. Next up on the 8th of July need your help to make some bird feeders for the Castle Kennedy Gardens’ birds and there will be enough left over to take home to feed your own birds too. If you would like to stay for lunch and make a day of it we are making mud faces for the trees in the afternoon along with some that you can take home too. I’m Looking forward to seeing you there, and let’s hope that the weather will be just as sunny, Elizabeth.
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