Fergus Fox

Fergus’ Nature Diary
Crawfordsburn Country Park
Activity Book

This book belongs to
I got this book from
On
Fergus the Fox lives in the Park
Text: Elizabeth Newbery
Design: Sarah Beatty
© Copyright Northern Ireland Environment Agency

Where am I?
Pretend you are a bird flying high in the sky. Look below!
This is what you see.
Can you see the sea?
Colour it blue when you get home.
Now pretend that you are even higher up. You are sitting on a
cloud! This is what you see below you.
Put a red spot on the map
where you live.
1

January
2
Keeping Warm in Winter
January is usually the coldest month of the year
This animal grows thicker wool in
winter.
What is it?
This animal grows layers of fat in
winter.
What is it?
Birds fluff up their feathers in winter.
This bird is a robin.
Colour in his red breast.
This animal goes to sleep in winter.
What is it?
How do you keep warm in winter?

January
Shivering Timbers
Trees need sunshine and water to make food. In winter there
is not much sunshine, and water is often frozen. So trees go to
sleep in winter, like hedgehogs!
The leaves of some trees fall off
in autumn. They are called
deciduous trees.
Do you know the name of any
deciduous trees?
Other trees keep their leaves in
winter. They are called
evergreens. Can you think why?
Evergreens have tough, shiny leaves or
very thin leaves. Scots Pines are evergreen.
They look like this.
There are lots of Scots Pines
growing in Crawfordsburn.
How many can you spot?
What type of leaves do
Scots Pines have?
Pick one up and stick
it here.
3

February
4
Bursting Buds
The countryside looks very bare in winter. But there are lots of
flowers and buds if you know where to look.
Tick off these plants as you find them
pussy willow hazel catkins crocus
winter
heliotrope
a young shoot under dead leaves
horse chestnut bud
beech tree bud
snowdrop

February
Hedgehogs to Eat
You will need some chocolate buns, buttercream icing,
chocolate strands, chocolate mint sticks, silver balls, glace
cherries.
Make some buttercream icing like this:
1. Mix 2 tablespoons of
cocoa powder with 1
1/2 tablespoons of very
hot water together.
Make your hedgehogs like
this:
Turn the buns upside down. Spread
some icing on them. Sprinkle the
chocolate strands on them. Push
in the mint sticks for prickles. Add
2 silver ball eyes and a glace cherry
nose.
2. Beat 125g (4oz) soft
margarine until it is
creamy. Add the cocoa
mixture.
3. Now add 250g (8oz)
icing sugar. Mix it
altogether.
5

March
6
Birds and Nests
Birds make nests ready for their eggs in spring.
The nest keeps the eggs
safe from enemies.
The baby birds grow inside
the eggs.
The bird sits on the eggs to
keep them warm.
When they are big enough
they hatch out.
Oystercatchers lay their eggs on the ground. The eggs match
the colour of the ground.
Can you find the
oystercatcher’s eggs
hidden in this
picture?

March
Building Nests
Nests are usually made of twigs, grass and feathers. But some
birds use other things such as mud.
Build a nest of your own!
You will need a small ball of clay (or plasticine) and some
materials such as feathers, straw, wool, moss and leaves.
Build a nest like this:
Press thumb in a ball of clay
(or plasticine). Pinch the clay
between fingers.
Can your nest hold two hens’ eggs?
Is it as good as a real bird’s nest?
Which bird would live in your nest?
Birds build nests in all sorts of places such as in hedges, in holes in trees, under
the roofs of houses or even on the edge of cliffs.
Look for trees with nests in the Park.
How many nests can you spot?
Line the nest with some of the materials you
have collected to make it warm and cosy.
7

April
8
Plenty of Plants
Look at the picture of the Park on Page 1.
Can you spot the woodland?
Can you spot the seashore?
Plants that grow in the woodland are different from the plants
that grow near the seashore.
Woodland Plants
Look for these plants in the woods. They flower before the trees
have leaves on them.
celandine
Colour them in when you get home.
wood sorrel
ramsons

April
Sea Shore Plants
Seashore plants must find fresh water otherwise they will die.
They must stand up to strong winds from the sea too.
Thrift has long roots to
search out water.
Stone crop grows
low so the wind blows
over it.
Scurvy grass stores
water in fat leaves.
Eggs for Easter
The whinbush has bright yellow flowers. They can be used to
make a bright yellow dye. Dye some eggs for Easter like this.
whinbush
Find a place where
there are lots of
whinbushes. Collect
the yellow flowers.
Put them in a
saucepan of boiling
water with the eggs.
Watch your eggs turn
bright yellow!
9

May
Make Friends with a Tree!
Choose the tree you like best.
Why do you like it best? Is it the shape? Or the colour?
Does it look like a friendly tree? Or a scarey tree?
Shut your eyes and feel
the bark. Tick which word
tells you about it best.
nobbly
smooth
rough
flakey
slippery
Is there anything extra
growing on your tree?
What do the leaves look
like? Draw one here.
10
Don’t forget to draw the roots! The roots hold the tree
firmly in the ground. They stop it from blowing over.
Roots take water and other things out of the ground, so
that the tree can grow.

Who lives in an Oak Tree?
A large oak tree is home to lots of birds, animals and insects.
There are 8 hiding in this picture.
How many can you find?
I can find
May
11

June
Dip into a Pond
You will need: a net and an ice cream tub half filled with
pond water. If you do not have a net use a kitchen sieve.
A small hand lens is useful for looking at very small things.
12
Dip your net into the pond. Turn it
upside down into your tub of water.
Shake the net gently in the water.
Have you caught any of these?
a water snail
a great diving beetle
a whirligig beetle
a water boatman
a newt
a pond skater

June
A Walk to the Waterfall
Find the waterfall in the picture of the Park on page 1. Why not
go to see it? You will hear it before you see it.
For you to colour.
Can you make a sound like the waterfall?
13

July
Creepy Crawlies
Insects and small animals are found in all sorts of places. Did you
know there are more insects than any other kind of animal?
Look for insects and small animals
in trees like this.
Put a piece of paper under a tree.
Tap a branch with a stout stick
to knock off the insects.
Have you found any of these?
If you look under the dead leaves you might find these
114
small spider
woodlouse
spider
greenfly caterpillar
ant
centipede
fly earwig
slug

July
Keeping Caterpillars
A baby butterfly or moth is called a caterpillar. It changes into a
butterfly or moth like this:
eggs caterpillar pupae butterfly
A Caterpillar House
Keep a caterpillar. Watch it change into
a butterfly or moth.
You will need:
a large plastic sweet jar
some old tights
a rubber band
an empty yogurt pot to hold water
for the plant which the caterpillar eats
a piece of bark or rough wood
some damp soil
Look for a caterpillar. Take a piece of
the plant it was eating. Keep your
caterpillar in a cool place. Check it
every day. When it changes into a
moth or a butterfly, let it go.
Watch it fly away!
15

August
A Game for the Seaside
Play this game with your family or friends. The first person to
find all of these things is the winner.
a piece of seaweed a dead crab a feather a piece of glass
smoothed by
the sea
a whelk a piece of wood a smooth
pebble
Exploring Rockpools
Look for the rock pools behind the rocks at Helen’s Bay. They are
great fun to explore. Keep very still. Wait for the animals to come
out of hiding.
Can you spot any of these?
16
limpet
crab
starfish
sea anemone
periwinkle
a razor shell
sea lettuce

August
Sea Shells
Shells are the homes of animals with soft bodies. They live in
shells to protect their bodies.
Shells come in all shapes and sizes. Can you find a very, very tiny
shell? And a very large shell? Draw round them with a pencil in
the boxes.
This is my
smallest shell.
This is my
largest shell.
Catch a Crab
Crabs love bacon rinds!
Catch a crab like this.
You will need a bucket filled with sea water, string and some bacon rinds.
Tie the string to the bacon rind. Dangle it in a rock pool. Watch the crabs grab
the bacon! Lift them out carefully while they hang on. Put them in the bucket.
Tip them gently back in the water before you go home.
17

September
Birds on the Beach
Spot these birds on the beach. Then follow the lines to find out
what they eat.
turnstones
Spotting Seals
Grey Seals like rocky shores, so you might be lucky and spot one
at Helen’s Bay.
Grey Seals come ashore
to have their babies in
the autumn.
Do you know what
baby seals are called?
18
fish
herring gull
worms and
sand shrimps
oystercatchers
small animals which
hide under stones
and seaweed
cockles and mussels
redshank
fish and dead things
washed up by the sea
cormorant

September
Feeling Feathers
Birds lose some of their feathers in late summer, so it is a good
time to collect them. Sort them out into different sizes. Stick
them in here.
Shut your eyes and stroke a
feather. What does it feel like?
Tick the word you think is best.
soft
spikey
stiff
smooth
silky
Eider Ducks
Eider ducks do not live in many places around Britain, but they
do live at Crawfordsburn.
Eider ducks have especially soft
feathers on their breasts. They line
their nests with these feathers to
keep the eggs warm.
Some people have bed covers
filled with eider feathers. Do you
have one on your bed?
Can you make up a word of
your own to say what your
feathers feel like?
This is the biggest feather.
This is the smallest feather.
19

October
Scattering Seeds
It is often very windy in autumn. The winds help to scatter
seeds. Most seeds are blown away by the wind.
Burrs have tiny hooks
which hook on to animal
hair. When the animal rubs
against a fence the burrs
drop off and grow.
Fruit seeds are carried by birds.
They eat the berries with the
seeds inside them. The seeds pass
through their droppings and grow.
Dandelions have seeds attached
to tiny ‘parachutes’. The wind
carries them away.
Ash and sycamore seeds
have ‘wings’ to catch the
wind.
Sorting Seeds
Seeds come in all sorts of shapes, colours and sizes. How many
can you find in the Park?
Sort them out when you get home.
Stick them into the right box.
20
flat seeds round seeds different coloured seeds

October
A Seed Necklace
Make a necklace with seed like this.
You will need different sized seeds, (large seeds are easier to use), a darning
needle, thick thread.
Tie a big knot in one end
of the thread.
When you have finished, tie
another knot in the other end.
Tie the two ends together.
Conkers
Conkers are the seeds of the horse chestnut tree. Do you know
how to play ‘conkers’?
Choose the fattest, shiniest conkers you can find. Ask a grown
up to pierce them with a corkscrew. Thread some string through
and tie a knot at one end. You must try and smash the other
person’s conker by hitting it with yours.
A Conker Race
Have you tried a conker race? Each
person pushes a conker along the
ground with their nose! The first one
to the finishing line wins.
Push the needle and thread
through the seeds.
21

November
Feeding Birds
Food becomes harder for birds to find in winter. You can help
them by putting out food.
Which food do birds like best? Put different types of food into
small dishes. Try sunflower seeds, crumbs of bread and cheese,
peanuts and cold boiled potatoes.
Which do the birds like best?
Which do the birds like least?
Feeding Blue-tits
Blue tits like peanuts. You can
make a bird feeder for them
from a plastic bottle like this:
You will need:
a plastic fizzy drink bottle
string
some peanuts (not salted)
Ask a grown-up to cut some
holes.
22

November
The Windmill at Crawfordsburn
Look for the old stump of a windmill on your way out. You can see it from the
Park drive, but you cannot walk up to it because it is on someone else’s land.
A long time ago it used to grind barley and oats into flour.
The Story of the Miller and the Wind Fairies
Do you know what wind fairies are? A long time ago
there was a miller who believed in wind fairies. Wind
fairies were naughty. They travelled around Ireland
looking for mischief. They were very fond of making
trouble for millers!
One day the wind fairies heard the sound of a clattering
mill. They hid in the windmill and made a plan. First they made sure
that there was a nice fresh wind. The miller was pleased. But he did not know
the wind fairies were hiding in the mill. The miller got busy pouring in barley at
one end and filling sacks of flour at the other end. Suddenly
the wind fairies changed the way the wind blew.
The miller quickly re-set the sails and he got busy again.
But the wind fairies changed the way the wind blew
again! The poor miller quickly went out and re-set
the sails once again. The wind fairies were enjoying
themselves. They made the wind blow so hard that the
sails bent and the machinery whizzed round very fast.
Then they made the wind go away so that the windmill
would not work.
Now the miller was used to the wind changing
direction, first blowing strongly and then not at all - but
not all at once. In a flash he realised that
wind fairies were to blame! Now he
had to think of a plan to get them out of the mill. So do
you know what he did? He threw handfuls of flour into the
wind. The wind fairies came out of hiding and spent the
rest of the day chasing the flour around and leaving the
miller to get on with his work!
Do you believe in wind fairies? If you listen very carefully
when the wind blows you might hear them. But be careful!
They may be planning to make mischief for you!
23

December
Winter Walls
In winter the plants have died down. So winter is a good time
for looking at walls.
Look out for the wall near the pond. It is home to lots of insects,
small animals and plants.
Tick the boxes as you spot these things.
snail fungus spider fern slug
Who am I?
I like nice damp places. I
have a hard shell and a soft
body. I have no legs.
Who am I?
Join up the dots and find out.
Then colour me in.
24

December
Planting Trees
Trees are like people. They do not live for ever. When an old tree
dies in the Park a new one is planted.
Trees are planted in the winter when it is not too cold. Young trees are protected
with a tree guard then, rabbits and other animals cannot eat them before they
have a chance to grow.
How many young trees can
you spot in the Park?
Grow Your Own Tree
Look for a seed such as an acorn, a conker, sycamore wings or a
seed from a beech tree.
You will need a flowerpot, enough soil to fill
the pot, a plastic bag
and a rubber band.
Soak the seed in warm
water. Put some stones
in the bottom of the
flowerpot. Put most of
the soil in the pot.
Put in the seed and
cover it with the rest of
the soil.
Put the plastic bag over
the pot. Keep it in place
with the rubber band.
Tree Guard
Leave on a sunny
window sill to sprout.
When the seedling
comes up take the bag
off and water it.
25

For 2 or more players
You will need 1 counter each and a dice. Throw 6 to start. The first one to reach the countryside
centre on square 30 is the winner. To land on square 30 you must throw the exact number.
Northern Ireland Environment Agency
Klondyke Building
Cromac Avenue
Gasworks Business Park
Belfast BT7 2JA
T. 0845 302 0008
www.ni-environment.gov.uk
Printed on 100% post consumer waste
Printed on 100% post consumer waste
Our aim is to protect, conserve and promote the
natural and built environment for the benefit of
present and future generations.
ISBN No. ......................
Ref No: 04/04.24