When a child gets pleasure from observing the living world and when he is interested, positive emotions are connected with nature, then he won’t be indifferent to the environment, he will love and protect nature. This love must be instilled from childhood, during excursions into nature, observations of living objects, and involving young people in nature conservation work.
On June 22, teachers of the Transcarpathian Regional Ecological and Naturalistic Center for Students Youth, along with youths and children of IDP, conducted an excursion to the forest of the “Shakhta” district of the city. The purpose of the excursion was to acquaint the children with the forest-forming species of this area and to observe and study the birds of the forest. Oleksandr Gerevych, director of TRENCSY, gave an introductory speech about the rules of behavior in the forest. He pointed out that the season of silence continues, and during this period the birds have their nestlings, so there is no need to make noise. It is also not advisable to pluck plants for the herbarium, and pick insects for the collection. Instead, it’s better to take photos of things that interest us, since we are conservationists.
Yulianna Kurak, head of the “Young Foresters” group, introduced the youth to the main forest-forming species of the Carpathian forests. The manager emphasized that oak and beech forests, with pine, are widespread in this area. Climbing up the path, the students carefully looked around and in advance named the plants, they met on the way, namely: periwinkle, windflowers, geraniums, ivy, blackberry, hazel, elder, hawthorn, aspen, common oak, red oak, beech, common hornbeam, and pine. Immediately after entering the forest, the children had the opportunity to dive into the world of birds. They met a blackbird, a great tit, a great spotted woodpecker, and a common magpie. They immediately recognized these birds, as they had previously studied, and observed them in class. Moving along the forest strip, the young birdwatchers met an unknown bird, using the identifier “Birds of the Fauna of Ukraine” they determined that it was a common jay – a forest bird that is easily recognized by the blue “mirror” on the wing. By the way, the jay, hiding stocks of acorns for the winter, contributes to the “planting” of oak forests.
Young children consolidated their knowledge about birds during the games “Name the bird”, and “Who am I?”, solving crosswords and puzzles. The participants of the excursion learned a lot of new information about various birds living in the forest, the peculiarities of their behavior, and nutrition, and received a lot of interesting and useful information about their life. The young entomologists started searching having reached the meadow. Special magnifying glasses for research were quickly filled with interesting exhibits: katydids, a ground beetle, a seven-spot ladybird, an ant, meadow brown, burnet, and a peacock butterfly. Some stinging insects were viewed from a distance: western honey bees, bumblebees, and wasps. Of course, during their stay in the forest, they tried not to leave any traces of their activities, so they also cleaned the meadow.
The excursion into the forest turned out to be interesting and rich. The children were delighted with what they saw, took a lot of photos, and looked at the birds through binoculars. Birdwatching is a combination of observing and studying birds with a camera. Sometimes it is very useful to take your attention away from your phones and just watch the world of birds. After all, bird watching is an exciting activity that will help children understand the diverse world of birds that surrounds them!
The event was held as part of the cooperation of the Transcarpathian Regional Ecological and Naturalistic Center of Students Youth (TRENCSY) the Interreligious and environmental civil forum of Eastern Europe (IRCEF) (head by Alexander Bokotey) with the German Nature Conservation Union (NABU Bundesverband NABU International ), project coordinators Ivan Tymofeiev (NABU), Nataliya Kulya (IRCEF).
Informational Service of IRCEF
