The Bedfordshire Rangers had a great time last weekend doings some of the ‘50 things to do before you’re 11 3/4‘ with six families who joined us for our annual wild sleepover!
We started on Saturday afternoon and managed to get most of the tents up before the rain arrived but had to flee to a barn for shelter and to try our hand at making grass trumpets (No. 25) – Ranger Rose ran out in the rain (No. 6) to fetch a few handfuls of suitable grass and we soon had an orchestra’s worth of noisy grass trumpets.
Stomping through wet grass after a heavy shower
When the rain stopped we headed out to track wild animals (No. 34) and less than 20 meters from the tents we spotted signs of rabbits. A little further on (after stopping to feed the pigs grass through the fence) we found deer tracks and an abandoned badger sett as well as several shallow holes in the ground which we checked for badger poo! Close to Whipsnade Tree Cathedral we saw how humans had affected the landscape as many of the trees beside the path were coppiced.
Checking for badger poo!
Back at the campsite we cooked our dinner (No. 47) on a selection of small fires expertly managed by Ranger Steve who also helped with getting the marshmallows toasted to perfection 🙂
Ranger sized portions of veggie bolognaise!
The weather cleared once more for our night nature walk (No. 40) although not enough for star gazing (No. 27) and we headed over to one of our biggest setts but didn’t manage to sneak up on any badgers. On the way back (climbing a HUGE hill – No. 28) we saw bats and heard owls and we made it back in time for hot chocolate before bed.
After a night of camping out in the wild (No. 3) we went next door to feed the pigs their breakfast (No.23) before having our breakfast (sausages).
The porkers in this picture are being fattened up for bacon and will be available soon (from Tony via Trust Our Pigs).
Thank you very much to all the families that joined us – we had a great time and look forward to seeing many of you at the next Run Wild – Free family activity walks on the first Sunday of every month.
Bedfordshire Rangers 