BIRDS IN FOCUS AT BENHOLM MILL
KINNEFF Primary pupils were given the opportunity to get up close and personal with a wide range of birds this week.
The children had made nest boxes in their design technology lesson as part of a special project with the Mill of Benholm and put them up around the woods in the Mill valley over the half-term holiday.
Specialists from the Tay Bird Ringing group were also on site for the three mornings, netting, identifying, measuring and ringing birds and allowing families to get a closer look at the birds themselves.
Mill of Benholm Project Manager Mike Burleigh said: "The whole objective of the project is to teach the children something about nature and get them involved in studying wildlife and bird nesting.
"I think the children have learned all sorts of things over the past few days. They've seen the birds so close - many of them will never have held a bird before - and they've seen them getting weighed and measured. They then got to let the birds go, so the children were very involved in the whole process. It was a wonderful opportunity for the public to see scientists monitoring changes in biodiversity."
Mr Burleigh added: "We're trying to develop as a natural history resource. We want the public to come here and be aware of these woods and the range of family opportunities that are available."
Dave Arthur, from the Tay Ringing Group, said that they had put rings on over 50 birds within the first two days and all the data they had gathered would then be fed into a national database.
He said: "All the kids seemed to have enjoyed themselves."
The bird boxes will be located in the Mill Brae wood which is part of the Brotherton estate and Training and Horticulture Supervisor Jeanette Duncan is organizing the planting of a wider range of plant food sources in the gardens around the site to encourage bio-diversity.
Local gardeners are invited to donate perennials and shrubs from their gardens.
The Mill of Benholm project is a charity that seeks to maintain and develop the Mill, its buildings and grounds as a resource for tourists and local communities.
The project provides opportunities for people with learning disabilities to help in the running of the site, working in the tearoom and in the croft grounds surrounding the Mill, to help them gain valuable work and social experience.
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Weather for Stonehaven
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 9 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
