Pond Dipping at Jupiter SWT Site

As the weather is still warm and sunny we thought we should visit somewhere new.  I’ve heard a lot of good reviews about the SWT Jupiter urban wildlife centre at Grangemouth, so I decided we pay it a visit.  The site is free to enter, although a donation box is available if you would like to donate towards the upkeep (£2 suggested donation).  It’s quite a winding road through a housing and then industrial estate to find the reserve.  We parked just outside the centre, but it didn’t seem like much and we weren’t sure what to expect.

First of all we went for a little wander along the paths, thinking we would come back to the centre on the way back, but when we saw another family with pond dipping nets nearby a large pond, I thought I would head back to the centre to try and find a pond dipping kit to borrow ourselves.

We were given a white tray, I.D. sheet, instructions and 3 nets.  I used to do pond dipping with kids at an outdoor centre I worked at, so we knew the basics of what we needed to do.  Daddy filled up the tray with water, whilst O and I tried scooping our nets in the water.

A was still asleep on my back at this time, I actually managed to get him in the carrier out of his car seat still asleep!!.

Our first few scoops in the deeper areas didn’t get much of interest, but nearer the edge of the pond we soon managed to get a little Stickleback and some water boatmen.  O was very proud of his Stickleback fish swimming around the tray!  We continued pond dipping for 45 minutes or so finding lots of different pond creatures.  My favourite are the Caddisfly Larvae, which create their own house by ‘gluing’ bits of debris (plants, stones, shell, whatever they find in the water) around their bodies.  I love seeing all their individual homes.  We gently emptied out the tray of water and creatures whenever it was getting a bit full of leaves etc.

 

We walked around to some picnic benches to have our lunch and let the boys run around away from the water and even saw a Heron land in a pond nearby.  We tried a little more pond dipping before O was getting a bit tired, so we took the nets back and had a walk through the gardens.

 

One garden was a ‘rubbish’ garden where most things were upcycled, another had a huge bug hotel and bird boxes and the 3rd had a vegetable garden and small pond.  The path then leads back to the centre, where we found loads of information on the reserve and wildlife in general.  The centre is set up as a classroom, with information around the edge, but it was still very interesting.  There are various ‘kits’ and laminated sheets to take out with you on your visit, including the pond dipping, minibeast hunt and tree I.d.

We loved our visit to Jupiter Wildlife Reserve and will definitely be back again!

J x