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We've found lots of woodlice under logs and in leaf litter at Sydenham Hill Wood recently including the common shiny, the common striped and even what we believe to be pygmy woodlice :O Woodlice are not actually insects but in fact crustaceans and are related to shrimps and crabs! They play an important part in the nutrient-recycling system and eat leaves, rotting wood and even their own faeces but they don't pee, instead they release ammonia as a gas through their shells

My 2 sons and I were rock hopping round the shore between Parton and Whitehaven and came across what we instinctively called a sea slug. Excited to find a new creature we stopped for a good look. Size about 6-7cm, oval shaped, big skirt, leopard spot coloured, good camouflage on the rocky shore, on the lower intertidal zone, soft but tough body without any shell. A marine biologist contact I am lucky to have identified it as a sea lemon. They only live for a year and are common in the UK on rocky shores.

We found a sleeping hedgehog outside our classroom! We decided it was not safe there and discussed hibernation. We put it carefully in a tray of leaves and moved it to our Forest School area and covered it in leaves to keep it safe.

We have received some free trees from the Woodland Trust and so have planted them in our Forest School area. We are learning what trees need to flourish and so will be looking after these saplings to encourage more wildlife to the area. Trees we planted were: rowan, dogwood, hazel, cherry and oak.

10 Nov. It took several art and writing sessions to create these versions of our Autumn poems we wrote together in the woodland. We were very happy with our results.

8th Nov Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy's glowing trees we set off to create one of our own. Our search for yellow leaves drew us further into parts of the woods we hadn't explored before. Golden treasure and new places found. Some we will return to for picnics in the Spring. It took a lot more leaves than we had thought. And a lot more patience :)

So again inspired by Alison and her barefoot beach poems we decided to create some Autumn ones of our own. Using the letters AUTUMN to spell out the first letter of each line. We all joined in at different levels depending on age and ability. The little ones looking around to see what they could see that began with each letter. Passersby stopping to enquire and enjoying the poems also :) Littliest member decided to make up his own song and dancing on the picnic table occurred. Such joy.