Cranedale 2013 Day 4
Because of the tides at Flamborough, breakfast was earlier
this morning. A 7.45am saw a few bleary eyes but the children still managed to
get through a mountain of food. Extra
toast, croissant and cereal were eaten by most of the children. Lewis ate a croissant with so much jam it was
in danger of toppling off the table.
Today we headed to the beach. The weather forecast was O.K with the chance
of rain in the afternoon. However,
Anushka teased the rain gods by wearing a t-shirt which had the slogan “It’s
the weather for ducks”.
Flamborough Head is a site of geographical
significance. It has examples of arches,
stacks, stumps, caves and a wave cut platform.
These have been formed by a variety of different methods of coastal
erosion. It also contains rock
pools. Hiding inside the rock pools are
a variety of crabs which the children are desperate to catch. Lois proved to be a bit of a wimp as far as
crabs go. She managed to hold the dead
edible crab we found but drew the line at a live one. Victoria was the “crab whisperer” of the
group and provided many different examples for the group to observe.
After an enjoyable couple of hours on the beach, the tide
finally won the battle and we retreated, like King Canute, back to the car
park. It was time for lunch. Sadly, Tatziana couldn’t be persuaded that
there was jam in either French fries or gingerbread so it was basic rations for
Mr Britten today L
After lunch, we had a walk down the cliff edge to search for
a dinosaur. Due to a quirk of nature,
part of the coast takes the form of a dinosaur.
He has been named “Flamboroughsaurus”.
The children completed a field sketch of the dinosaur and we had the
pleasure of over-hearing a member of the public comment on the children’s impeccable
behaviour.
The children were then taken to Bempton Cliffs. This is a RSPB protected area which is home
to thousands of nesting seabirds. The
top of the class, as far a seabirds go, is the puffin. Lois was quick to spot a pair of nesting
puffins. This upset some of the “old-school”
twitchers who had spent hours looking for puffins with little success. All children had a pair of binoculars to
observe the movements of the birds and spent a good hour completely engrossed
in the comings and goings. After all
that bird watching, refreshment was required.
Fortunately, the RSPB shop had a large selection of ice creams and their
foresight was rewarded with 18 eager customers.
Pip demonstrated a unique method of eating an ice cream and Jessie
started a debate about the “5 second rule” in regards to ice cream.
Evening meal was tomato soup, roast pork, roast potatoes,
carrots, peas, apple sauce, gravy, chocolate sponge and thick cream.
The evening’s entertainment was “owl pellets”. This basically involves digging around in owl
poop discovering the teeth and bones of a variety of different prey. Alannah and Pip have a future career in
dentistry. They were able to locate a
mouse’s skull, find the jaw and extract some teeth. There was, however, disappointment when they
were told that the tooth fairy doesn’t care much for mice teeth.
Tomorrow is the last day of the holiday. The children will be taking part in the
survival game. It’s a bit like “The
Hunger Games” and is great fun.
