The Form VI children have been learning all about their local habitat in cross curricular science/geography lessons this term. Having already started to make a record of the trees found on site, they were kindly invited by local expert (and ex-governor) Patrick Mannix to tour his woodland just up the hill towards Farley Heath. Here is a write-up of what they got up to…
Our visit to Sandhurst Copse
17th May
When we arrived at a beautiful floral wood called Sandhurst Copse we were greeted by a man with a large amount of tree knowledge, his name was Patrick Mannix. He first told us how to estimate a tree’s age: measure the girth of the tree (you have to make sure it is not the start of the trunk) with a measuring tape and divide by 2. He told us about the animals living there and their habitats, as well as the nature. We went around a trail leading us to trees over 300 years old, we all especially loved the 255 year old horse chestnut. As we walked along the path a familiar flower came into view, of course…. bluebells. As we carried on walking we saw various flowers but an ocean’s worth of bluebells.
Soon we were taught how to measure the height of a tree with only a stick. Firstly: you have to find and measure a stick up for your armpit if you do hold the stick up and have one hand at the bottom of the stick and measure the height and how ever far away you are from the tree is the height of it.
We learnt all about willows, rowan, chestnut and oaks and many more! Patrick shared his knowledge and woodland with us and we are so thankful for his generosity.
Steph and Esther, Form VI
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