Portsmouth youngsters given bird masterclass as part of their lockdown learning

With schools shut due to he virus outbreak, community groups, celebrities and others have stepped in to help ease the pressure on teachers and parents.

Now, an awareness group is hoping to teach pupils about the many birds we have in the Portsmouth area.

Bird Aware Solent – which promotes the region as a global hotspot for travelling wildlife – has created a series of activities to help youngsters learn more about birds, and how to tell them apart.

Quizzes, top trumps and a game about beaks have all been put up online, in a bid to reconnect young people with the natural world.

There’s also activity ideas that not only get children thinking creatively, but will have a positive impact on the region’s ecosystem.

Councillor Sean Woodward, chairman of the Partnership for South Hampshire which oversees Bird Aware Solent, has praised the scheme.

He said: ‘Home schooling has provided a unique opportunity for us to help our children whilst learning new things along the way.

‘Bird Aware’s webpage is really useful, it provides varied things to do with kids of all ages.’

Youngsters Jess and Keely Dawson from Meon Junior School, pictured, have created a bee hotel to entice the insects into their back garden.

Other activities that have been promoted by Bird Aware Solent include making a home for wildlife, looking for animal tracks and creating a nature-themed wordsearch.

The page also includes links to education resources from organisations such as the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts and the Winchester Science Centre.

Bird Aware Solent’s primary goal is to protect the future of birds such as oystercatcher and dunlin, educating people with a team of rangers that talk to people about birds along the Solent coastline.

Many species, such as waders and wildfowl, fly to the region each year from as far as the Arctic to feed and rest during the winter months.

For more information go to solent.birdaware.org

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