Here's a list of green activities to keep you busy this summer
• Go camping in your garden
Can’t go camping this summer? Grab your tent and sleeping bag and set up camp in your garden. Cook your dinner on a camp stove and grab your torch to hunt for insects which come out at night. Listen out for a grating noise – that might just be a weta rubbing its back legs together. Try identifying the constellations of stars in the night sky.
• Make an insect friendly garden patch
Insects love messy gardens! Set up a corner of your garden as an insect patch – make sure there is lots of leaf litter some old logs or bits of wood and some rocks pile up. Insects like lots of small cracks and crevices to hide in and lots of them eat old leaves and wood.
Wondering which insects you have got in your garden? Make a pitfall trap. You can get help identifying them from What is this Bug?
• Plant your own veges – in teabags!
Recycle your parents old teabags by planting vege seeds in them. Click here to find out how!
• Lizard garden
If you are lucky enough to live in a place that has skinks or geckos you can give them a helping hand by making a special lizard garden. Click here to find out how!
• Make a bird feeder
Our birds get hungry! You can give make a feast in your garden - just make sure it’s out of reach of the local cats. You can cut fruit in half and poke it onto the twigs of trees to give birds a sweet treat, leave a tray of water out for them or try recycling a milk bottle to make a bird feeder.
How to make a milk bottle bird feeder
1. Wash out a used milk bottle. Any size or shape will work.
2. Cut an opening, big enough for a bird, on the side of the bottle opposite the handle and about 5cm from the bottom of the bottle.
3. If you want to add a perch to your feeder drill a small hole below the feeder’s opening and push a stick into it for the birds to sit on.
4. To hang your feeder wrap wire or string around the handle of the jug and hang it on a tree out of reach of cats.
5. Fill it up with pre-made wild bird seed or make your own mix from sunflower seeds, barley and other seeds from the bulk bins at the supermarket. YUM!
• Be a bird scientist - try bird spotting
Grab a pair of binoculars – they make spotting birds much easier! It’s also useful to have a bird identification book handy – try Andrew Crowe’s Which New Zealand Bird?
1. Keep still and quiet – otherwise you might scare the birds away.
2. Use your ears – birds sing and call to each other, letting you know where they might be hiding. What Bird? has recordings of lots of different bird calls.
3. Try writing down what you see. Include: date, time, habitat, weather, type of bird, what the birds were doing and how many you saw. Take photos to help you identify birds.
• Go rock pooling
Head down to the beach and explore your local rockpools. It will be filled with all sorts of creatures – from barnacles to hermit crabs. The Marine Studies Centre has awesome rocky shore guides to help you identify what you find crawling around the pools. Click here to download your free guide to take with you. Remember to leave the critters where you found them and only handle them with wet hands close to the ground – they don’t like to dry out!
• Become a nature photographer
Grab your camera and go for a walk in your local park, reserve, beach or even in your garden. Taking photos helps you see plants, animals and insects in a different way. Try lifting bits of wood and rocks to find interesting creepy crawlies to photograph. For some good photography tips click here.
Send your pics too us at kcc@forestandbird.org.nz. We’d love to know what you have been up to!
For a list of reserves to visit go to http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-visit/
For more activity ideas go to http://www.kcc.org.nz/hands-activities
