PRIMARY SCHOOLS

The project for Primary Schools uses a method sometimes adopted by ecologists to find out whether, for example, there are slow worms in an area. A sheet of wood or corrugated metal (we ask for ones about 2 meters by 1 meter in size) is put on the ground and not disturbed for a week. After that it is taken up, and note made of any animals found underneath it.

The results will be likely to be different depending where the sheet is placed, as well as which type of sheet is used. Sheets placed on a grass surface may be used by different creatures to ones placed on a cultivated surface. It should even be possible to get results off a tarmaced surface, as long as it is weathered tarmac. Sheets placed in the sun will be used by those animals which like a warm environment, and sheets in the shade by ones preferring a cool moist place to hide.

NOTE: As it is just possible that sheets, particularly those placed in sunny areas, may attract reptiles, a teacher should always be present when the sheet is taken up.

However, the chance of finding any snakes in a school play area is remote, as snakes prefer peace and quiet.

Most of the creatures found under the sheets are likely to be invertebrates of one sort or another, some probably small, and it is advisable to have a range of jam-jars or other containers on hand to collect them when the sheet is taken up. It may be advisable for the children to be provided with surgical gloves or the equivalent if handling amphibians or invertebrates, as some can exude a noxious secretion when disturbed, and the wearing of gloves reminds children not to put their fingers near their mouths until they have washed. After identification, invertebrates can be returned to the nearest safe area and released. Frogs or other amphibians should be identified and released quickly; the used sheet can be stood up against a nearby wall to provide some protection and allow any amphibians placed behind it to disperse in their own time.

A negative result with nothing under the sheet is as valuable as a positive result with lots of creatures, provided note has been taken of where the sheet was placed (whether sun or shade or partial shade, the surface placed on, and the dates put down and taken up).