I met a lovely group this morning from 'families learning together' who took part in one of my looking at buildings sessions.

I sent them out to do some sketches and they came back with these beauties! We then turned the sketches in to 3d models and they were really wonderful!

Three thousand pupils from thirty eight schools across the UK received Super Scientist Certificates on behalf of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales in recognition of their contribution to the Spring Bulbs - Climate Change Investigation.

An outstanding school from each country was selected and treated to a fun packed day out jointly funded by Amgueddfa Cymru and the Edina Trust.

Westwood CP School in Wales visited National Slate Museum in Llanberis. Earlston Primary School in Scotland visited the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and Fulwood and Cadley School in England enjoyed a visit to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.

Here are some pictures from Westwood's trip on a very sunny day in Llanberis!

If you are anything like me, you will have been glued to the BBC’s fantastic Springwatch programmes over the last few days. Spring is a brilliant time of year with so much going on all around us, and St Fagans Museum is a fantastic place to get up close and personal with a wide range of wildlife! 

This half term, why not come and visit us and pick up one of our family nature trails, which you can find at the main reception and in Oriel 1. The trail will take you to the best places in the museum to spot our fantastic wildlife. You can watch birds feeding from the comfort of our bird hide, visit the Tannery where you can watch our roost of Lesser Horseshoe bats on our live infra-red camera and even peer into the water pits to see newts and other creatures that have made it their home. 

Throughout the museum there are birds nesting, whether in some of the old buildings, in trees or in some of the nest boxes that we have put up. Look at the Greater Spotted woodpecker (pictured) nesting in a tree. You can even watch a family of blue tits nesting in one of our nest boxes live on our website.

Watch our family of Blue Tits on our live webcam

Hopefully the beautiful weather we’ve had recently will return as I will be spending time next week showing off some of our wildlife highlights. From Wednesday to Friday next week (June 6-8) I will in the bird hide from 11-1 with binoculars and I.D sheets and then at the Tannery from 2-4 showing off our colony of bats with the bat cam. If you get the chance, pick up a trail and come and say hi!

Video Clip, taken 30/05/2012

Within the groundwater in the rocks below our feet is a hidden world where living animals can be found. It’s a secret world that is difficult to study, and frequently forgotten as it is out of sight. In the UK these groundwater dwelling animals tend to be made up of crustaceans (which includes familiar animals such as crabs and lobsters), and range from tiny microscopic copepods to ‘larger’ shrimp like animals.

Recent survey work by Lee Knight, a freshwater ecologist, and Gareth Farr, a groundwater specialist with the Environment Agency, has found some new species to the Welsh fauna. This has included the first records for the very small amphipod Microniphargus leruthi which has now been found in a number of sites around South Wales.

Recently I joined Gareth on some fieldwork around the Bridgend area to collect some voucher specimens for the museum collections. On this particular trip we found two species not represented in the collections (and shown in the pictures). Both of these are termed ‘stygobiont’ animals, which means they are permanent inhabitants of underground environments. As a result they are characteristically white and eyeless as an adaptation to life underground.

So why does it matter that we learn about such animals and their environment? Understanding biodiversity is always important. Our whole way of life is underpinned by the environment through the food we eat, the water we drink, to the resources we use. In the case of these groundwater animals if the groundwater they live in gets polluted, then this affects not only these animals but us through contaminated water supplies. Thus even these small blind beasties have an important role to play in the sustainability of our environment.

Pupils from Roath Park Primary and Pontyclun Primary had great fun exploring plants and plant science at the National Museum Cardiff to celebrate The Fascination of Plants day. 

They had a go at dissecting a plant, explored plants under the microscope, and found out about the work of plant scientists at the National Museum Cardiff and Cardiff University. They also learned how to survey for plants in the local park.

Plus, Flathom Island education team joined us with some real live slow worms, and the Marine Conservation Society helped pupils explore issues affecting local wildlife.

This event for schools was run by education staff and plant scientists from Cardiff University, the National Museum Wales and Eco-explore, and was part of an international celebration of plants around the world. We hope to run a similar event next year, where more schools will be able to participate. 

Thanks to all involved!