Thousands of seabirds Can't be wrong!
Source:
Adapted from the Noss National Nature Reserve, teaching and activity pack (SNH)
OBJECTIVE
- To think about habitats and why creatures live where they do
Time
20 minutes. This is an ideal activity to do on a rainy, bleak, windy day
You will need
- simple outline map of the nature reserve or local area
- pencils & crayons
Did you know?
National Nature Reserves like Noss, Staffa and the Isle of May are home to hundreds of thousands of seabirds like puffins, fulmars, terns, guillemots and eider ducks. School groups are welcomed and often can be supported or guided by reserve staff.
Before the activity
Discuss the word 'habitat' and explain that where a creature lives (its habitat) has to offer:
- food
- shelter
- safety
Look out of the class window and ask what creatures there might be in the school grounds. Describe their habitat. For example the bird table is not the whole habitat for a blackbird, it also needs other sources of food like lawns to find worms and hedges to shelter in and make nests, so the gardens around the school are the blackbird's habitat. However an earth worm, might spend all of its life in the school compost bin, so that is it's habitat.
The activity
Go to an exposed, open place with a good view of the study area. Look for seabirds, they might be huddled on the side of cliffs, bobbing around in a stormy sea or gathering on a bleak, windswept bay. Return to a more sheltered spot, perhaps inside a hide or the minibus!
Ask them for their initial description of the landscape. Is it welcoming, cosy, warm..? Use leading questions to try and elicit responses such as cold, bleak, stormy, exposed, barren of trees etc. Hand out maps of the site and working in groups of 4-5, ask the children to imagine that they are going to buy a reserve for wildlife. It is shaped like this one, but they can choose anywhere in the world and add in lochs, forests, meadows, palm trees anything they like, and also ask them to make a note of the climate. Give them 10 minutes to design and describe their reserve and then ask for feedback. Most groups will probably have designed something which is more people friendly than seabird friendly. Congratulate them of their designs and then ask - but why do the seabirds you see come here? Every year millions of seabirds come to Scotland and thousands stay in places like this around the coast. They all chose to come here (after all they can fly), instead of going to the Mediterranean or Australia (or places similar to what the children have drawn). Why on earth do they do that?
Explore the reasons why the seabirds like it here and arrive at the conclusion that the real reason is the supply of food. The mudflats and seas are full of the preferred food of the seabirds, worms, mussels, crabs, shellfish, and of course fish. Also they are relatively undisturbed and free from predators. If there were trees and scrubby bushes, cats and foxes could hide in them and spring out on the birds, whereas on the rocks in the water, on the cliff edges and on the mudflats they are much safer. They also feel safe from humans and dogs (they can see them coming a long way off when they are feeding on the mudflats) and people and dogs usually stay away from the cliff edges. Thus although from a human point of view the reserve on a wet and windy day can look very inhospitable; bleak, barren, windswept and even dangerous, it actually has everything these seabirds need. As far as they are concerned it is the best place to be and gives, food, shelter and safety.
Suggested Follow up
Use binoculars to watch seabirds feeding. They might be searching for food on the mudflats or along the shore line, they might be swimming on the surface and then bobbing under the water or they might be diving from a great height and dropping into the water like a missile (gannets!).
Do the activity Seabird City
Research food chains and food webs for the birds you saw. Use the web links below as well as the information you found out on your trip. The plankton images will help make the links between the sun's energy and the fish and seabirds higher up the food chain.
Downloads
- Seabird factfiles from the Isle of May Expedition Pack (SNH)
- RSPB bird guide
- BTO bird guide
- plankton images from SAHFOS research centre plant plankton (phytoplankton) animal plankton (zooplankton) and fish larvae
Curriculum Links
Science
Age Range
2, 3,4