Learning

Humankind is the 'Earth's biggest threat'

The world’s top scientists are in no doubt that human activity is changing our climate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the evidence is ‘unequivocal’ that increased warming since the industrial age is due to human activity.

What do you think we should be doing to tackle climate change?

What are your questions?

There are many ways you can make a difference. The first step is to understand climate change.

Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales and Science Shops Wales are touring an exhibition and talks to promote the understanding of climate change. If you would like to find out more e-mail scan@nmgw.ac.uk

Hi there all! Hope you’re enjoying watching the now that it’s up and running. It’s almost always busy at the feeder at the moment so there’s plenty to keep you entertained (or in my case distracted from work!). It’s particularly popular with Great Tits, Blue Tits and Coal Tits as well as Greenfinch, Chaffinch and House Sparrow. The Nuthatch and Robin are also regulars with Goldfinch and Bullfinch making infrequent visits. The feeder also suffers regular raids from our resident squirrels and although they’re a bit of a nuisance for the birds it’s pretty entertaining watching their acrobatic attempts at getting to the food!

Autumn is a great time to spot fungi as many fruiting bodies (the interesting shapes that we see above ground) bloom at this time of year. So I've decided to post my mushroom and toadstool photos on this blog as the season wears on. Enjoy!

The marine section here at the museum have been exploring the sea floor around Scotland recently. Have a look at the video blog here to see what they were hoping to find on the trip. Check back soon for updates on the weird and wonderful things they actually found.

Firstly, apologies for the larger than usual gap between this posting and my previous blog; I have been very busy! Many aspects of the project are nearing completion and the presence of the woodland project at St Fagans is becoming more and more obvious. So here’s what’s been going on…

The path through the woodland has been dug and the panels will be with us in the next few weeks. I’m very excited about the panels as they have a lot of brilliant hands-on learning displays such as a wind-up arm that plays bird song and a load of models of footprints, feeding remains and droppings of woodland mammals! It looks like the path will be ready sometime in June and it promises to be an excellent addition to the museum.

The website too is near completion and will be live in a couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to watching the birds as they come and go, and am curious as to which species we’ll get visiting our feeders and nest boxes. The pond cam should be a delight too, and I can’t wait to have a go at filming newts!

This week has felt like the first week of summer with temperatures reaching 23 degrees Celsius. I took a group of visitors on a bird walk at 5:30am on Saturday to celebrate international dawn chorus day and it was a great success. As well as resident species we also saw migrants such as Blackcap, and the songs of Chiffchaff have been ringing around since late March. The woods are full of birdsong as the birds sing to mark their territories and attract a mate, and birds with beaks full of nesting material have become a common sight. There has also been a riot of colour in the woods over the past month with the blossoming of spring flowers such as primrose, lesser celandine, wood anemones, garlic mustard and bluebell. The trees too have begun to blossom and grow fresh green leaves and the canopy is getting thicker every day.

That’s it for now, but keep a look out for the website and the woodland path next month!