The adventures of East-beary
Hello there!
I’m East-Beary and Eastbury Play Area is my home.
I love listening to the birds, watching the bees and butterflies but most of all, I love to play games here.
I’ll be here when you come and play, as one of my bear friends says “Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits”.
I can listen to you tell me all about your day, hear all your stories or try my best to play hide and seek!
I hope you like this play area too, it has lots of things to do. Have you heard what one of my bear friends says? He says "There's always something new to discover, even in the most familiar places".
Some of my bear friends have books and poems written about them. You can find out more about them at your library.
Winter is here!
The days are shorter and it is definitely colder as the winter season arrives in December and is with us through until February. It’s an exciting time of change in nature and the darker evenings mean that it’s a lot easier for me to spot the stars above me. It’s the coldest season with temperatures dropping, fog and frost all around us and the promise of snow at some point.
Wildlife in the play area really changes with many animals using this time and these changes to signal migration or hibernation with others are adapted to thrive in the Winter months. it’s a great time to have a go at being a nature detective and work out which animals have been wandering around on their travels for food by checking out the footprints left behind in the mud, frost or snow. Could you spot the footprints of a fox, a badger or a rabbit?
Starlings are well known to gather in large numbers, sometimes hundreds of birds called ‘flocks’, and swoop around the sky just before they settle down for the night, these are called ‘mumurations’. Have you been lucky enough to see a murmuration? Where have you seen any animal footprints in the mud, frost or snow this season? Did you hear any owls twit-twooing or any woodpeckers drumming on trees to communicate?
Many trees become dormant too at this time of the year, they may shed their leaves or have dropped their seeds like the horse chestnut dropping conkers in Autumn or pinecones falling from pine trees. Have you spotted a pinecone that has been nibbled by a hungry squirrel? Did you know that the oak trees that are around this play area, need these cold temperatures to start the process of germination? The cold temperatures trigger changes in seeds to let them know that they need to start growing when it gets warmer in spring. There are some plants which are called evergreens, meaning they have green leaves all through the year, like a fir tree that some people have in their houses over the Christmas period. What changes have you seen to the trees or plants? Does the sound of the wind blowing through the trees sound different now there are less leaves? Where have you seen evergreens on your travels?
This is one of my favourite times of year for watching all the play area space change into a winter adventure for all of you and nature too. All the birds and mammals are all trying to get the last of the juicy winter red berries on the hawthorn trees and rowan trees. It’s the time of year when snowdrops start appearing to signal that Spring will soon be here.
It’s great to visit the play areas, parks and open spaces this season, having a lovely walk in nature, swinging in the crisp weather, running around with your friends and family and keeping warm outside. There are so many wonderful things to see in and around this play area in Wintertime, so grab your gloves and warm clothes, come and visit me in the play area and see what you can find sharing the play area with you this Winter. Don’t forget to keep a look out in the skies for flying reindeer!
Did you know?
All the reindeer on santa's sleigh are females!
If you want to find out more about what you can see around you in the world this season, other places to visit and to read some good stories about wildlife, you could visit the following places.
https://www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk/
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/
https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/libraries-and-archives/libraries-and-archives.aspx