Badger's Blog

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I like peacock butterflies too, Sealoles. They're very pretty. And it sounds like Buzzyades will see lots of really exotic types when visiting the butterfly park. I'd love to go to one, escpecially if I could see a chrysalis hatching!

Swiftafa is off to BirdFair later this month too - sometimes even I go there! It's a great place to meet lots of other wildlife enthusiasts and have a go at cool nature activities. I've done pond dipping there before and watched how scientists put special rings on birds to help find out more about them, just like this song thrush I saw.

Perhaps I'll sneak along again this year!

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*SLURP*

Yum! I like this rain we're having at the moment!

*MUNCH MUNCH*

It makes the ground really soft.

*CRUNCH* *SQUELCH*

And do you know what comes out when the soil is lovely and moist?

*CHOMP CHOMP*

Delicious, juicy minibeasts!

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Hello everyone! Look what I've found...

It's a cinnabar moth. I asked Beebee to identify it for me from a photograph I took the other day. Isn't it pretty? It's funny too - Finchalla told us about seeing a cinnabar caterpillar the other day, and then this turns up!

It got me thinking and I did a bit of research. I looked in some nature books and found out that the reason there are lots of cinnabars about is because their favourite food plant - ragwort - is all over the place at the moment. The moths lay their eggs on it and stripey black and orange caterpillars hatch out to munch the plant. They're easy to spot too - just look for bright yellow flowers on tall plants.

Watch out though, ragwort is poisonous!

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Look - look! Puffin expert Jen answered my question! This is what I wrote:

Snuffle snuffle Hello Jen! It's Badger here. My friends at The Wildlife Trusts told me all about your amazing Puffin Cam and I've been glued to the screen. I don't get to see puffins very often as my sett is so far away from the coast, but I think they're great little birds. I never knew they were so tiny! I have watched lots of nature programmes and seen puffins bringing fish home for their yongsters. They always seem to have beaks crammed full. What I can't work out is how they manage to catch and carry so many fish without dropping some! How do puffins hold on to their meals if they have to open their beaks to catch more? Snuffle snuffle

And Jen replied:

Hello Badger. Thank you for checking out Puffin Cam, i'm really pleased you like it and have been telling other people to watch.

Puffins can usually collect about 10 fish at a time, although the record stands at 62. They have a special rough tongue which they used to hold the fish they have already caught against spines on the roof of their mouth. This means they can hold onto their meals and still open their beaks to catch more fish. Puffins also have an extra bone in their jaw so they can hold a row of fish in their beak without the ones at the front falling out.

Jen Stockdale (AWT Ecologist)

Isn't that amazing? Puffins are so clever.

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Remember when I told you about the amazing Puffin Cam that Alderney Wildlife Trust are using to watch puffin nests?

Well, on Thursday 08 July a puffin expert will be live on the site to answer your questions about puffins! You can post a question on the site now and Jen (the expert) will be answering them between 14.00 an 16.00 on Thursday.

I've already asked my question - I hope it gets answered! I've always wanted to know how puffins carry all those fish in their beak without dropping them...

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