During the summer, a year eight party of
students from Thornden School visited Chilworth Conservation Area for an
ecology field trip.
The trip was a great success for all concerned with
over 200 pupils taking part in four main exercises: pond dipping to
identify the animals forming a freshwater pond community; investigation of
wood piles to show the process of decay by fungi and to identify the
community of animals living in association with the process;
identification of trees; and studying quadrat sections - to show how plant
communities change between open meadow and shaded woodland.
