Wednesday 18 June 2014

Wednesday June 18th: A Trip to Study The River Waveney at Redgrave Fen

Today Class 3 went to Redgrave Fen to find the source of the River Waveney and to follow its course, collecting scientific data about the river at different stages of its life.

We worked in two groups and the one pictured in most of the blog is the group that was supported by Mrs Baker. The fen is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust and one of their Education Officers, Deborah Key, was our guide for the day.

We started at the source which was not what we all expected; a muddy puddle in the ground!
We measured the depth, the width, the temperature and the flow of the water. We found out that the river runs from West to East and ends up running into the North Sea. The road next to the source is at the watershed between The River Waveney and The Little Ouse which is on the other side.


 

Then we walked to Tractor Bridge across the water meadow...










Deborah explained the formation of peat and how, years ago, it was used for fuel. 


We saw what looked like a river but it was in fact a drain made by local farmers.


We met Mrs Andrew's group and watched them head off towards Sluice Gate.



At Tractor Bridge we stopped to sketch the river and landscape and then took more measurements as before: depth, width, temperature and flow.









Deborah showed us how people used to make candles from the pith inside reeds. They stripped the green outer covering off the stem and then dipped the pith in tallow (animal fat). The light would be stronger if the candle was lit at both ends.




This is the River Waveney at Sluice Gate. The Fen Manager carefully controls the amount of water going through the sluice so that the river and fen don't dry out. If rainfall is low then less water will be released into the lower part of the river.



We took some more scientific measurements to record the river's depth, width, temperature and flow.





Once that was complete we went to find out more about using water at home...


...and estimated how much water we used for different household tasks.








As we left the clearing some of the group posed with The Green Man.


Then we learnt about where the water in the fen came from and where it disappeared to...








Afterwards we pretended to be droplets in the water cycle.






Finally, here are a selection of photos taken by Mrs Grottick and the children of different insects, animals and plants we spotted on our walk.

A funnel web:


Lots of reeds and reed beds:


A garden tiger moth caterpillar:







Cattle:


Lots of peacock butterfly caterpillars who love eating nettles:








Ladybirds and their larvae:





Unfortunately no one saw a rare fen raft spider on the day although Mrs Andrew's group did spot a water rat! We heard some interesting bird song including the distinctive sound of a cuckoo.

A great day was enjoyed by everyone and just before we left Deborah invited the children to take part in the Suffolk Wildlife Trust hedgehog survey (see suffolkwildlifetrust.org/hedgehogs) - why don't you have a go!


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