Report on Louth Watch Meeting 19-1-20

Louth Watch group met at Spout Yard Park to find out more about compost.

As children arrived they were able to chose to fill in a word search, colouring or crossword.
We started the meeting asking if the children had seen any interesting wildlife and reminded them about the Big Garden Birdwatch.

We then moved outside into the park area where James Pocklington told us about the value of compost and demonstrated how to make a Rotbot. He used a 2 litre plastic bottle with the top cut off and a few drainage holes in the bottom. He showed us how to build up layers of shredded paper, vegetable pieces, small twigs and fruit scraps in the bottle. After a few weeks seeds could be planted on the resulting compost.

Before going inside we located and examined the Spout Yard compost bins. Indoors the children enjoyed exploring the piles of compost that James had brought in, from different sources. They searched for minibeasts and examined and identified them under digital microscopes, other microscopes and magnifiers. They were excited to find worms, woodlice, centipedes, beetle larvae, ants and snails.

The children then made and took home some very good plasticine models of the minibeasts they had found. They were also given a rotbot bottle to fill at home and some seeds to sow in the resulting compost.

Overall it was a very enjoyable and educational afternoon.