The Alford Watch Group is one of around 300 such locally run groups organised by the Wildlife Trust. The group’s aim is to get children interested in wildlife and the environment in a very hands on way. We have written a little about the group, and our support for it, on our Youth Work page.
Group co-ordinator Margot Charlton joined us for a meal along with three of the group’s longest serving members Grace, Eliza and Nicholas, aged 11/12. Our guests took it in turns to talk about some of the different items of equipment that our club has bought them and how they are being used.
Eliza explained how she had been using the sonic Bat Detector to learn about these elusive animals though her hearing is so good she can detect the bats unaided. Eliza thought she would miss this ability as her ears age and become less sensitive to high frequencies.
A Badger Caught on Night Vision Camera A Fox Caught on Night Vision Camera
Our club has also provided a night vision camera, which is triggered by movement. The camera is lent to each family for one month and Grace showed us a range of video clips she had captured. The image quality was surprisingly good and Rotarians where pleased to be able to identify rabbits, badgers, foxes, rats, mice, squirrels and ducks.
Digiscope in Use 
Shrew Bones From an Owl Pellet
Grace also showed us how she used the Digiscope ( a digital microscope) to study the contents of a barn owl pellet; she actually reconstructed two field voles and a shrew, down to the last phalynx!
Nicholas presented a slide show of the equipment, focusing on the Moth trap which he used to capture and identify around 50 moths. The trap has a light bulb to attract the moths into a box at night; they cannot escape so they shelter in the pockets of an up-turned egg box until they are collected the following morning. Nicholas assured us no moths were harmed in the making of his presentation!
The club really appreciated being shown how the equipment we helped buy is being put to such good use and we hope it was also a good experience for the children to practice giving a presentation in front of a room full of strangers. They clearly spent a lot of time preparing, were able to practice IT skills and even learn a bit of microphone technique.