Welcome to the Selby Abbey Scout Group For boys and girls age 6 to 14

One Friday night Kermit came home from school to join us on an exciting adventure for the weekend. On Saturday we had to get up and get our breakfast quickly because we were going pond dipping with the Selby Abbey Cubs and Beavers - Kermit was going to see his cousins at the pond! We drove to Howden Marsh and waited for everyone to arrive.

We went for a walk down the boardwalk to a big pond where we were to do the dipping from, a large wooden platforms at the edge of the water. The warden Hugh showed us the best way to use the nets and how to kneel down so we could reach further and wouldn't fall in. He said if he saw us standing at the edge of the platform he would push us in! We took turns to use the nets and put the pond creatures in a tray so we could identify them.

My group found 2 very interesting creatures, a mayfly larvae and a fish louse. There were lots of other things too like water fleas, leeches, 2 kinds of water boatmen, greater hoglouse, a water cricket, a freshwater shrimp and lots of damselfly larvae. Another group found 2 tadpoles at different stages of development. 1 had just its back legs and the other had all 4 legs. We put all the pond life back in the pond then we went to the picnic area for lunch. Akela had brought hot water, soap and a towel so we could all washed our hands before eating lunch.

At the picnic area we found lots of toadlets in the grass so we had to be very careful not to stand on any. After lunch we went for a long walk around the nature reserve to see all the different plants and animals then we all went home. Thank you Hugh and Emily, Akela, Bagheera, Silver Beaver and Farmer Phil for a great day it was very interesting to see all the things that live in a pond.