school energy&environment

Biodiversity day

Decide the place where you can spend your observation day: often it’s not necessary to cover hundreds of kilometres to find an environment full of life, sometimes, we can unexpectedly make beautiful observations close to home or even in the garden of our own house.

• Dress suitably to the place where you are and comfortably: shoes are very important to walk well, but also pay attention to the colour of your clothes. Many mammals, infact, can’t see red and purple but birds can. A bright-coloured shirt is the best way to avoid seeing animals!
• Bring in your backpack everything you need for your observations: a map of the place, pocket guides to recognize animal and plant species, a compass to guide you, binoculars to look far away, a magnifying glass to observe details, a camera to capture your encounters, a notebook where you can carefully mark your observations, pencils to make sketches of the site and species living in it.
• Keep silent as much as you can: all animals have great sense of hearing, making noise you risk provoking a general stampede.
• Walk slowly: rapid and sudden movements alarm all animals and reduce the chance you might have to make thrilling encounters.
• Keep your eyes open and ears peeled: listen to the sounds made by animals, you will understand where they are and be careful about their movements, infact, our eyes are attracted by movements and so it will be easier to see a moving bird rather than a still one.
• Look in all directions and use binoculars only after being sure there is something: if you keep using binoculars you risk losing “closer” encounters.
• Fill in your notebook in this way: date, beginning time and end of your field trip, place and climate conditions and a quick sketch of the place where you are; if you know it, write the name of dominant plant species in this place and plant and animal species observed or draw a quick sketch or add a picture for further identification.