#660: Field Guides

The Linnean Society has shared a good collection of field guides to help you identify species.

These are going to be useful for those beginning to upskill themselves in such skills ahead of potentially teaching some of the proposed habitats in the subject content which is out for consultation until early September 2026

#536: Beach Pebble Guide

Came across a cracking little guide to the pebbles on the beaches of Scotland (in particular) by the Scottish Geology Trust.

It's a free PDF download from this link.

Scottish Geology Trust ©2021 This work is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence. 

#462: The Observologist

Possibly not one to use as a GCSE text but certainly one which has a lot of interesting ideas for exploring wildlife and nature and paying attention to our surroundings.

By Giselle Clarkson.

An observologist is someone who makes scientific expeditions, albeit very small ones, every day. They notice interesting details in the world around them. They are expert at finding tiny creatures, plants and fungi. They know that water snails glide upside down on the undersurface of the water; not all flies have wings; earthworms have bristles; butterflies taste with their feet.

The Observologist puts over 100 small creatures and features of the natural world under the microscope, piquing our curiosity with only the most interesting facts. Subjects range from slugs, ants and seeds, fungi and flies through to bees and bird poop.

But this is no everyday catalogue of creatures. It is an antidote to boredom, an invitation out of the digital world and screentime, an encouragement to observe our environment, with care and curiosity, wherever we are.

Facts combine with comics, detailed illustrations, science and funny stories in this unique, warm and fascinating account of the small things all around us. Graphic and comic illustrations with funny talking insects make this a playful and informative book for 7- to 11-year-olds and one to be treasured in the classroom.

Giselle Clarkson has a comics and conservation background. Through her unique sensibility you’ll find that once you start thinking small, there’s no limit to what you can notice—right under your nose.

I have a copy in my classroom, ready for use with younger students.

#70: Crab Museum

While in Margate recently I had the good fortune to visit the Crab Museum. It's open Thu-Sunday. 

It can be found upstairs behind a colourful but unassuming door in the Old Town.

This takes an irreverent look at the crustacean with a whole range of displays and fun captions. There is also a gift shop selling a range of fun postcards, pencils and other gifts for the crab-lover in your life.

If you were expecting a fairly dry museum, some of the displays will have you scratching your chin. The team behind the museum include a geographer, which is always a sign of quality.

The blog has a range of interesting posts, which will also give you an insight into the sense of humour that sits behind the whole experience.

Admission to the museum is FREE, and they promise that if you don't enjoy it you'll get your money back.

It gave me an idea for a possible student activity: that each member of a group selects a card with the name of a native animal from a chosen context e.g. British wildlife. 

The plan would then be for the students to develop a plan for a museum, and some of the exhibits that would go into it, and create some display material, interpretive signage etc. I'm sure you can think of other elements to this task.

In time, once things become clearer, I will create a card deck for the activity with some sample UK wildlife to choose from, and a rubric for the task as well.