Wow! Great news....

Ashton Gate primary school have sent further updates on their Trout and About project. Things are starting to happen in the cool waters of the classroom fishtank........

Monday 23rd February 2013

Sadly more trout eggs died. Julie came and worked with us and we went pond dipping! We found an egg right at the bottom of the fish tank, and we were all surprised. When we went pond dipping we found Back Swimmers, Fresh water shrimps and even more! It was cool and we had fun!

Barni

Tuesday 26th February 2013

We have really, really good news! Today, when we looked in the tank, we found two alevins! But sadly even more eggs died. The eggs are so famous now they’ve been in the paper! 5B came to visit the trout eggs and were very excited when they realised that two had hatched. Our alevins have been hiding with the eggs in the hope that we haven’t noticed them but, of course, we have definitely noticed them. James Pond is still alive and all we can do is hope that the rest will make it. 

Steph

See if you can spot the alevins below!

This morning I noticed that we had some alevins too at the Avon Wildlife Trust office. I think I was as excited as the students at Ashton Gate primary school! Yesterday when we explored the school pond at Ashton Gate we found a male smooth newt looking rather splendid with his full crest along his back and tail. Students logged key biological indicators to assess if the pond was healthy or not. Some found it to be quite healthy and some found it to be very healthy which was a very good sign considering it's still February.

Tomorrow I'm off to Parson Street primary school to investigate a local stream with Year 5 students. Here's hoping it's a nice sunny day!

I've also posted some amazing drawings on our Flickr account that pupils from parson Street did last week. Take a look and see if you can recognise the key adaptations that help trout to live in a freshwater habitat.

Today's guest bloggers are....

Oakley, Eve and Amy  (Year 5). They've been updating me on all that's happening at  Ashton Gate Primary school in Bristol.

Wednesday 20th February 2013

The trout, eggs eyes are a little bigger than yesterday and we have had a few visitors that came and had a look. One of the eggs look a bit white but the rest are fine. But we are not sure if we should take it out so we’ve left it in the fish tank.
By Oakley

Thursday 21st February 2013 - morning

The trout eggs have had another visitor this morning. Each day they are getting a little bit bigger. Every day after break and lunch every one gathers around the tank to look at the eggs. As you can guess we are all very excited about the fish.
By Eve

Thursday 21st February 2013 - afternoon

Sadly 3 of are eggs died today. They were found this morning. But it did not stop the attraction. 5B came up this afternoon to look at the trout eggs and at chess club everyone was really interested in the eggs and some people were so interested they did not want to play chess so they could look at the trout eggs especially the fallen one which we named Janes Pond!!! 

By Amy

This week I've also been to Parson Street primary school and South Street primary school in Bedminster. I've given assemblies, explaining the project to all the pupils in each school and encouraging students to think about freshwater and saltwater habitats. In each assembly I have shown this wonderful short film from the One World One Ocean which celebrates the wonders of our ocean with stunning facts about the connectivity of water on our planet.

I've also met some great students, all of whom are very enthusiastic about looking after their trout eggs. I took in my new friend, the yet-to- be-named, big trout caught in 1932 at Blagdon lake,

and discovered some fabulous artists!

Guest blog from Anna Year 5

Today's guest blog is from Anna in year 5 at Ashton Gate Primary School, day 2 of their Trout and About project!

trout and about

On Monday Year 5 found out that their new project is on fish. Just to make it more exciting we can watch the life of living fish right in our classroom.

Monday 19^th February 2013

Everybody is really excited because we are getting rainbow trout Juiley (a member of the Avon wildlife trust) is helping us to learn about fish e.g. their habitat. We have a big fish tank in 5P’s classroom with a lot of fish eggs in so we are to watch these eggs grow up into big rainbow trout. Once they have grown up we will let them go in Chew valley lake.

Thanks Anna! I'm looking forward to hearing how you get on.

Trout arrive at Ashton Gate primary!

 

Yesterday was a very exciting day as the first of our schools received their trout. Ashton Gate primary school in Bristol are now the keen parents of lots of little orange eggs. During the day, students learnt how to look after the new additions to their classroom and all about the trout life cycle. They drew some amazing pictures and created their own freshwater life cycles. Each week pupils are going to take turns to write guest blogs and update us all on what's happening so watch this space.....

The eggs have hatched!

The trial for Trout and About continues to go from strength to strength. The fry are getting bigger and stronger and this morning I entered the office to discover the first of our eggs had hatched and the alevin are feeding off the yolk sacs.There have been a few eggs that haven't made it - these are white and opaque so they need to be removed from the tank in order to maintain the hygiene of the general tank conditions, but this is to be expected and the survivors look strong and healthy.

You can see the black eyes of the alevin in the photo. They will stay at the bottom of the tank for a while now, feeding off the protein in their yolk sacs. Of course, in the wild, they would be camouflaged amongst the gravel of the river bed, keeping safe from predators. It's brilliant being able to watch this transition from egg to fish close up, something that would be almost impossible to come across in the wild. Luckily, thanks to the wonders of technology, I found this wonderful video online which shows this this transformation happening in fantastic detail. You can watch it here. It's part of a blog from the Trout in the Town project for urban river restoration from the Wild Trout Trust

Taken from Paul Gaskell's Trout in the Town blog (see above)

In a few weeks I will be putting tanks into school classrooms across Bristol. I really hope that the trout will inspire young people to think about their local rivers, streams and lakes differently and encourage them to protect and explore their local natural environment.

The trout are thriving....

So far, so good! The fry seem to be enjoying their new home and the eggs are due to hatch any day. Recently, my colleague, Jo Morris, had an exciting 
parcel arrive in the post..... an underwater camera that she was planning to trial for her new Wild Schools filming project. Of course this was a prime opportunity to see what life was like as a trout living at the AWT headquarters. So we tentatively tested it, plunging it into the cool waters of the tank. To our surprise, there was a smooth transition as the camera filmed both inside and outside of the tank, and the fish seemed quite happy too.

Jo made a fantastic short movie that sums up the project so far, so take a look for a close up of our trout and their lovely abode.

We're going Trout and About!

After much anticipation, this week saw the arrival of some new wildlife to the offices at Avon Wildlife Trust. As part of the new 'Trout and About' learning project, starting in schools mid February, I will be rearing trout in the foyer at our Jacobs Wells Road office.

Fry and eggs ready for their temporary new home

Much planning, tank designing and learning about trout has been happening over the last few months and, finally, the tank arrived and Tony Donnelly from Bristol Water, brought in his little tub of fish eggs and fry to put in their new home. 
Navigating around staff who were having their lunch and looking on very bemused, we filled the tank and checked the chiller, flow and filter were all working correctly. We then introduced  the fish eggs and fry which by this point, in an office of Wildlife Trust staff, had became quite a talking point. 

Filling the tank

So, it all started off well but when I arrived the next morning I discovered a few fatalities. In the natural world this is inevitable, in fact 95% of trout don't make it passed the age of 1 in the wild but this was an artificial environment designed to facilitate the development of the eggs in the most productive way. A quick check of the cooler system told me why. With the cupboard doors below the tank closed there wasn't enough airflow and the chiller wasn't working effectively. This rise in temperature, in addition to the change of water and transportation of the fish was too much. Note to self, make some alterations to the chiller cabinet to allow better airflow. All is not lost, we live and learn and we are still having a better survival rate than in the wild. 

In they go!

The Trout and About project has been kindly funded by Bristol Water as part of their catchment management work to improve water courses in the area and supports Avon Wildlife Trust's learning strategy by providing hands on learning opportunities to link schools with their local natural environment. Schools in Bristol will have tanks in their classrooms and will rear trout from eggs over a four week period. 

This is a fantastic opportunity to provide real, memorable learning experiences to support teaching across the KS2 curriculum, whilst allowing schools to participate in a local, conservation project. During the project pupils will visit a local water course to learn about the ecology of rivers. This will provide a connection with their local natural environment, making the project more relevant to their own lives and neighbourhood, whilst providing hands-on learning experiences. At the end of the project pupils will be invited on a field trip where they will be able to release their young trout, visit the hatchery at Blagdon and explore the associated wildlife around the lake. 

Before it gets to the schools though I will be trialing the project myself, so follow my progress on this blog and see how I get on.