Biology Department Newsletter Issue 5: week commencing 4 May 2020
‘No Mow May’
Artistic impression
The National Trust is challenging households to forgo mowing the law for the month of May in order to encourage the clover and other flowers to bloom to provide nectar for the bees and other pollinators. Mr Hardman is going to be taking part and doing his bit for this vital part of our ecosystem. National trust
This a beautiful website with artistic animations of different animal skeletons moving including kangaroos, humans, elephants and many others. The artists amongst you may particularly enjoy this site: National Geographic
Emoji-tastic! Can you solve the biological concepts that these emojis describe? Check out Buzzfeed for many more scientific ones. How about your design some of your own too?
Grow your own! Did you know that you can grow your own watercress plants from a supermarket packet. Take a sprig of watercress, choose one with roots if possible, but they will grow anyway. Place them in a glass of water , leaves in the air with the stem in the water. If they root you can try keeping them growing in a cool spot outside but keep changing the water every few days. Alternatively plant them in some soil or potting compost in a plant pot and stand the pot in a tray of water, again they will grow best in a cool place outside. Watercress is grown is shallow chalkstream waters in watercress farms. Hertfordshire was one of the counties in which is was grown. Read more about it here Croxley Green history
Biology Department Newsletter Issue 5: week commencing 4 May 2020
Baking in Biology
Amazing Apps!
Everyone is baking at the moment (well done those of you who took part in the House Bake-off!). However, yeast is in short supply and so Mrs Morriss, one of our amazing Biology technicians has experimented by making her own ‘starter’ using naturally occurring yeast in order to eventually make sourdough. Can’t wait to see the results! 1. Put 150g bread flour and 250ml warm water in a large bowl. 2. Mix vigorously for around 10 mins with a hand whisk. This is not only good for your arm muscles, it will incorporate all the friendly yeast spores, bacteria and oxygen (photo 1). 3. Leave this mixture in the bowl, in the kitchen, covered with a clean tea towel for 2 days. You should then see signs of fermentation (photo 2). Then it’s ready for its first “feeding”. 4. Whisk in another 150g of flour with another 250ml water. Cover bowl with tea towel again and wait for another day. You should now start to smell the signs of fermentation, a slightly sour, vinegar smell. 5. Subsequent feedings involve discarding half of the starter and replacing with 150g flour and 250ml water. After the 2nd day of this feeding transfer the mixture to a clean Kilner jar (photo 3). 6. Repeat this process of discarding and replacing for another 3 days before making your bread. Find out more about the science behind it here: National Geographic 1
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Apps have come into their own recently with helping us to identify the plants, birds and animals around us. Here are Mr Hardman’s top 3 recommendations:
More of traditionalist? Use these online identification guides to help you: Every Flower Counts
Masters of disguise
You don't need to go to the rainforest to find amazing examples of camouflage in nature. Can you spot the caterpillar of the dotted border moth Agriopis marginaria on a piece of bramble stem from a teacher's garden.
Biology Department Newsletter Issue 5: week commencing 4 May 2020
How to make a garden pond Before carrying out this week's project you will need your parents' permission. Even small ponds can be very dangerous for young children so don't do this if you have young siblings or if any small children can get into your garden.
Even a tiny area of water will attract wildlife, including frogs, toads and newts. Many pond insects can fly as adults so are quick to colonize new water bodies. Examples include midges, damselflies, dragonflies, water boatmen and pond skaters. Birds and mammals will use the pond to drink from or bathe in, so putting a large stone in the pond will help them. Mr Glanville dug this pond out on Sunday and he will be observing which wildlife appears in the next few weeks. You can use any waterproof container: a bucket or old washing up bowl are good examples. The bucket that Mr Glanville used had handles but they are not essential. It is important to position the rim of the pond level with the soil so that creatures can get into and out of the pond easily.
Marking out the hole
Pond bucket in place
Filling the pond with water
Hedges in bloom If your daily fitness run or walk takes you near any hedges you may have noticed that they have turned white this week. If the hedge itself is a hawthorn hedge it will be flowering with white flowers that have a slightly unpleasant earthy smell. The bases of many hedges are covered with the plant called cow parsley which grow to about 6Ocm tall and produce lovely lacy white flowers. Cow parsley flowers turn the whole area a lovely fresh white colour; one of the joys of May. Cow parsley is in the same family as plants as carrots and an insect called carrot root fly will be on the wing this week. Gardeners will be protecting their carrot plants by surrounding them with a 40cm barrier; the carrot root fly never flies higher than 30cm from the ground and so will not fly over the barrier
Biology Department Newsletter Issue 5: week commencing 4 May 2020
Swallow, Swift or House Martin? Distinguishing between these 3 distinct species of bird is tricky. Ornithologists are scientists (specifically zoologists) who specialise in the identification and study of birds. Mr Glanville, as you know, has his own aviary at home and here he tells us how to determine whether the birds we are seeing in the skies at the moment are swallows, swifts or house martins: ‘Look up to the skies this week. Swallows, house martins and swifts are returning to the UK to breed from their overwintering grounds in Africa. The swallow and house martin (and the sand martin) are biologically related to each other but the swift is not. The superficial similarity of the swift to the others is an example of convergent evolution. The bird you are most likely to see in the centre of cities is the swift. It has very obvious sickle-shaped wings, a small tail and is often very high in the sky. It usually appears dark all over. The swallow has noticeable long tail feathers. They often fly low over fields and water. The house martin lacks the long tail feathers of the swallow and has a noticeable white rump. All three species feed on insects that they catch on the wing. The swift is a truly amazing bird. It may keep flying for two years without ever touching a solid object. It even sleeps in the air. It has amazing streamlining and if it lands on the ground its legs are so small and located far back on the body that it cannot take off again. Swifts used to breed in holes on cliffs but now most of them use the eaves of buildings.’ If you want to know more, look at this comprehensive YouTube clip: YouTube ************* Have you ever heard the saying, ‘One swallow doesn’t make a summer’? What do you think it actually means? “One swallow does not a summer make, nor one fine day…” Aristotle, 384-322 B.C. Sound of the swallow One of the wettest winters ever in the U.K. has been followed by the sunniest April but is there any correlation between a sunny spring and a long, hot summer? Listen to ‘More or Less’ and make your own mind up: More or Less