Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Cooper's Hill wildlife walk preparation


"It could only be Stephen!"

It sounds like the story's going round, so I may as well share it here.

Being in Bedford late yesterday morning, I decided to pop along to Putnoe Surgery where Carole works to see if she was free for lunch. She was so, after buying some sandwiches at the local Co-op, we sat in the little garden at the back enjoying the sunshine. Donna, one of the other nurses, joined us. During the conversation that followed I shared that I wanted to find a frog to use as a live illustration for a class of Alameda Middle School pupils during a nature walk over Cooper's Hill this morning. Donna, who lives down the road from the surgery, told me that she was happy to donate one of the 7 frogs inhabiting her little back garden pond. She gave me the number for her key-safe and - going well beyond the call of duty - directions to find a plastic food container in her kitchen in which to put it!

After a bit of searching, I managed to find a frog and popped it into the container with some water. On the way home I stopped off at Bedford South Hospital for a visit and, the day being so warm, slid the container under the car to keep the frog as cool as possible. It was cutting the visit short, pleading compassion for the frog, that has led to this story doing the rounds.

When I got home I popped the frog into the fridge for a little while to make sure that it would be in good health...unfortunately, Mark opened the door a little while later when looking for some chicken slices and salad to make a sandwich...which then meant that Carole found out, too, when she got home from work!

I can't see what the fuss is about. Dad used to be a keen fisherman when I was a boy and there were always tins of maggots in the fridge!

Anyway, I think the pupils appreciated seeing my frog this morning. I've got the moth trap running at The Firs Lower School this evening and I'll be showing the children whatever turns up in the morning...I built it up a bit during an assembly on Tuesday, so I hope there's something to show for it.

By the way, it's recommended that moths caught in a moth-trap are kept in the fridge during the day and released again in the evening....but I've already been warned never to do that in no uncertain terms!!

[photo from http://www.neath-porttalbot.gov.uk]

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