Day 33 Is it a frog, is it a toad ........

It's the last weekend of the holidays so why don't you make the most of it and go outside, run around, feel the wind in your hair, the rain or sun on your face (you never know which it will be these days!), cartwheel on the grass and jump around!

If you're looking for somewhere to go, you could try Stockwood Open Space, with it's open grassland, woodland, hedges and ponds, it's a haven for wildlife and a playground for young adventurers. Look out for frogs, toads and newts around the ponds, particularly if it's wet when you go. Not sure how to identify a frog from a toad? Then use Froglife's identification guide to help you. Pondering over what type of newt you have found? Then check out the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation group's website to help clarify your smooth newt from your palmate newt.

If you explore the woodlands then keep your eyes open for tawny owl pellets. Owls, like other birds of prey, cannot digest all of their food so they compress the feathers, fur and bones of their prey in their gullet and regurgitate it as a pellet. Tawny owls, who like to live in the woods, produce grey, loosely packed pellets about the size of a thumb and these can be found below feeding spots such as a tree stump or fence post. If you do find one, soak it in a little water and prize it apart with a cocktail stick or toothpick. You can then be a detective and discover the bones of whatever little creature has been the owls last meal. It could be a vole or mouse, maybe a shrew or even a bat. A good guide to dissecting owl pellets can be found here, see how many animals your owl had for his tea. Did you know...that when tawny owls make their twit twoo sound, it's actually a male and female calling to each other?

Finally, why not take some photos or draw some pictures whilst your out and about, you could take them into school when you go back and tell your class all about your adventures. Hope you had a great holiday!

Day 32 Go on a treasure hunt..

Callington Road local nature reserve is an oasis for wildlife in the middle of a busy urban environment in south Bristol. Download one of our nature journal's made specifically for the site, to help you discover how bats feed, which tree could help to make an artificial limb, how fast dragonflies can fly and much, much more. With lots of different wildlife to spot throughout the year, stories and memories from the local community and even a treasure map with clues for you to find, this journal will keep you busy all day!

Day 31 Skylarks and adder's tongues...

If you go down to the woods today ........... you might just hear the wonderful song of a skylark, particularly if you are at Lower Woods in South Gloucestershire. Situated next to Inglestone Common with it's wonderful open grasslands, this area combines some very special habitats in a very small space. It's not just skylarks you may hear, but also chiff chaffs, song thrushes, willow warblers and blackcaps. Follow the links to the excellent RSPB site where you can hear the call of all these birds. If you have a smart phone, there's also a very good app called Birds UK that you can download which will help you to identify birds and their calls when you're out and about.

We recently took a class of students from Hawkesbury Upton primary school on an adventure here to discover the delights of the Common. Pupils learnt about the history of the common, identified some of the wildflowers, made tiny nature collages and learnt some native bird song, you can find some of the activities and games we played here.

Inglestone Common is one of only two places in the whole country where you can find the rare Adder's-tongue spearwort plant which grows on the edge of the seasonal pond.It is part of the buttercup family and particularly favours ponds that dry out and are trampled by livestock around the edge. The other known site is also in Gloucestershire.

Lower woods is also a lovely place to explore but bring your wellies as the woodlands rise out of damp, clay soil so can get very muddy, perfect for spotting animal tracks and trails. See if you can find deer, badger or hedgehog tracks.

Day 30 - Wildlife in the City with wagtails, toxic plants, eco homes and common mouse-ear

You may think that Bristol city is generally full of noisy traffic, man made buildings and lots of people but use our wildlife walk around the city to explore a different side to urban life. Discover hemlock water dropwort along the old dock walls, it's the most toxic plant in Britain and is also known scarily as Dead Man's fingers. See if you can find the hart's tongue fern, named after the old English name for a deer (hart) and said to represent the deer's tongue which hangs out after death. Look too, for the pellitory-of-the-wall, not a particularly distinctive plant but an important food source for the red admiral butterfly. Away from the river, lurking amongst the grass, you can find the wonderfully named mouse-ear hawkweed, which looks a bit like a dandelion and extracts of which are said to have anti bacterial qualities. See if you can also find bird's foot trefoil, with it's pretty yellow and orange flower and another very important food source for butterflies.

It's not only amazing plants that you can discover on this walk, look out for otter footprints, butterflies, slow worms and a whole range of invertebrates, such as shield bugs, grasshoppers and crickets in the grasslands too.The river is also an important habitat for bird life and if you're lucky you may well spot a cormorant or heron, the black and white pied wagtail, ducks, swans and lesser black baked gulls.

If you fancy a break from all this wildlife spotting, why not visit the Create centre on route. They have a great eco home for you to look round, full of suggestions on how to make your own house more environmentally friendly and a lovely wildlife garden too. There is currently an architecture exhibition on called Retrofit City, looking at the green use of buildings around Bristol, plus an exhibition examining Bristol's green history

If all this wildlife has inspired you then download Bristol's Big Wildlife Map to discover more wonderful places to explore nature around the city centre and beyond. You could write your own blog to let your friends and family know what you've been up to on your adventures (and if you do, be sure to let us know about it too!).

Day 29 Salty towers....

If you're planning a trip to the seaside then squeeze in a visit Walborough nature reserve and the adjacent Uphill Nature reserve, just south of the village of Uphill, near Weston Super Mare, for incredible views across the Severn Estuary. Climb up the winding stairs of the wonderful, small folly on top of the hill for panoramic views across the landscape of limestone grassland and salt marsh, a rich habitat containing nationally scarce plants such as sea barley, slender hare's-ear and sea clover. The grasslands are full of butterflies on a nice sunny day, including brown argus, grizzled and dingy skipper and grayling, so see how many different ones you can find!

Take a wander around the old Norman church, overlooking the sea, dating from AD1080 and choose one of the many walks available to really explore the site. Make a pack of wildcards to play whilst you have a picnic and enjoy the sounds of wildlife all around. After your walk you could visit the little sandy beach near to the boatyard in Uphill. See what treasures you can find that have been washed up from the sea and see if you can make a beautiful castle in the sand.

Day 28 Have a hoot at Portbury Wharf

Visit our wonderful nature reserve at Portbury Wharf tonight for an evening walk with the warden, Bernie D'arcy for a chance to see owls, bats, foxes, and perhaps even a water vole.You'll need to book a place but the walk is free to everyone. Craig Vale said of the last walk: "thanks to Bernie for a lovely evening, we were even lucky enough to see some owls in flight." 

Portbury Wharf is unusual in that it was created as a condition of planning permission being granted for the adjoining Port Marine housing development. Bernie D'arcy (warden) and Neil Hutton (community officer) were employed in 2010 and work on the reserve to maintain and develop the wetlands habitat for wildlife and provide opportunities for the wider community to discover and learn more about the reserve. Large pools, ditches, marshland and of course, the estuary, provide invaluable habitats for species such as water voles and otters, migrating birds and invertebrates including the rare, hairy dragonfly.

Find out more about all the different species that can be found at this lovely wetlands reserve here, find out about the fantastic breeding barn owls here and follow Portbury Wharf on facebook to get news about family events, wildlife sightings and more.

Day 27 Follow the trail around Weston Big Wood

For a fantastic Bank holiday Monday walk visit our nature reserve at Weston Big Wood which has a waymarked trail leading you around the reserve.Check out our virtual tour first and then pack some paper and crayons and take rubbings of the carved wooden posts you discover along the way. Whilst exploring the woodlands see how many things you can find on our scavenger hunt or download a woodland logbook from the Woodland Trust to keep you busy.

Use our guide to the reserve to find out what to look for at different times of the year and make sure you take time to just stand very quietly occasionally and listen to the wildlife going on around you.