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P6/7 went exploring behind the school and followed the old bogie line up the steep hill. The Bogie line used to carry slate from the old quarry down to the village and along to the railway line. Although the bogies are no longer there, the path that they use to run along has stood the test of time and the children managed to walk most of it unhindered. We had several discussions about the BOgie Line and the amount of slate it carried and the purpose of the slate such as roof tiles for Stirling Castle and the billiards table on the Queen Mary.

Whilst out participating in ODL one of the pupils spotted some rare Hair Ice on a piece of wood next to the den they were building. The Hair Ice, also known as Frost Beard is a type of ice that forms on dead wood and takes the shape of fine silky hair.

A beautiful day at Kinghorn Loch today, it was made even better by such a successful morning's rowing. New pupil Kenzie excelled himself, fitting right into the group and picking up quickly. 3 of the had a shot at coxing the boat, and all did a fantastic job. The rowing club were all impressed with the group's new found skills. To finish off the rowing session, for the first time, the boat went out crewed entirely by pupils (1 coxing and 4 rowing) with volunteer Phil in the jump seat of the boat overseeing them. The youngsters then helped to get the boat out of water, and to wash it down. We went back to the shed for bacon rolls, sausage rolls and egg rolls all round and a chat about the day's adventures. The views on the loch today were beautiful, and the birdlife was spectacular. One of our best days yet!

Our first week taking part in the Discovery Award. We ventured out to our school garden. Did a spot of tidying up. Discovered the fire pit area and moved some logs around so that we could sit around and have a chat. We challenged ourselves and all had a go at starting a fire with a flint and steel!

Day 3 of the experience finds us at St Mary's Field garden. The garden is run as part of Sustainable Kirriemuir a local group involved in making the community a better place. The gardener, Emily was on hand to give guidance on the tasks for the group and share her knowledge and expertise. They had to use their teamwork skills shift a small shed, different methods were employed eventually using batons to slide the shed along. They also had to clear dead willow herb and cut back overgrown trees. The weather was almost spring like and the group enjoyed the experience, looking forward to the next time in a few weeks time.

Here's a few extra photos from yesterday's adventures in the cold! Thanks to the Kinghorn Rowing Club for arranging a nice warm base for the group at the Ecology Centre. We wanted to share a couple of photos of the views at the loch too.

We decided to wort in a completely different part of the park today as we went in search of more birdlife to compliment our findings from the previous week with Countryside Ranger Gavin. Through the ancient woodland of Pollok we roamed laughing and learning as we adventured through the woodland. We were lucky to see a variety of birds such as Long Tailed Tits, Tree Creepers and Nuthatch. Linzi and Fiona explained how the birds survived, how trees grow, drop their leaves and produce their magnificent displays as spring and summer poke their noses around the corner of winter. We talked about the ancient history of Pollok and looked forward to the green wild carpet coming back to the woodland as bulbs and wild flowers prepared to make a comeback!! Active Learning in Wild Spaces really is the way that we want to grow....