Eerie goings-on at Londonderry loughs agency

The day (Saturday, October 30) was kicked off with a very special morning session exclusively for members of the Wildlife Explorers, junior members of the RSPB.

They were invited to attend with their family and friends to take part in some extra special activities.

Robert Straughan introduced the morning with an update on Northern Ireland's highly successful red kite reintroduction programme.

Then came the messy bit with an opportunity for the children to get stuck in to dissecting some red kite pellets.

Pellets are the indigestible remnants of a meal coughed up by birds of prey and by looking at small bones and wing cases they can give clues about what the birds have been feeding on.

On hand to guide the youngsters through this grisly experience was RSPB's Youth & Education Assistant, Jen Martelli-Brown.

She was very impressed with the courage shown by the participants.

"Our Wildlife Explorer members were invited to take part in some particularly gruesome activities.

"From dissecting the bird pellets to creating ghostly bird feeders, the kids certainly weren't afraid to get their hands dirty!"

Londonderry man, Tyrone Nelson, also showed the young people some of the things that fly around and go 'bump in the night' By setting a moth trap he captured a variety of moths, beetles and other creepy crawlies.

With many events taking place across Derry over Halloween, the turn out far exceeded any expectations.

Just over 800 visitors passed through the Lough's Agency Visitors' Centre, adding to the festive atmosphere and general mayhem.

The afternoon flew past in a flurry of spooky goings on with a witch lurking in the woods after kidnapping a red kite chick.

By successfully locating and solving the clues along the red kite spooky trail, the children rescued the toy kite from witch's hiding place.

Robert also led tracking games for the children using fully operational field equipment while the mask-making table was permanently under siege.

With such an impressive turnout, the RSPB received enthusiastic support for their current 'Letter to the Future' campaign.

"By simply signing the letter, parents are helping to raise the profile of the natural environment on the current political agenda," said Jen.

"Together we must let the Government know how important nature is to us all."

"Saturday's event was not just about Halloween, it was a celebration of Feed the Birds Day, it explored the wonders of Birds of Prey and was an opportunity for us to involve our members from the Derry area and to reach out to more and more young people," said Catherine Gleave, RSPB Youth & Education officer.

"We hope to strengthen our presence in the North West and events like this will play a huge role in doing so."

To sign for yourself, go to Letter to the Future www.rspb.org.uk/lttfni. For more information on becoming a Wildlife Explorer visit http://www.rspb.org.uk/youth/