Bella show cases her World of Water at the Lewes Railway Land Nature Reserve

Hi all

Today is the Launch of my ‘Project Bella Bear World of Water’. This is part of an exciting Water Festival run by the Lewes Railway Land Trust here at the Lewes Railway Land Nature Reserve.

There are lots of organization with stands and demonstrations about water, a guided walk and also a puppet show and much more to see and do.

Our display stand was a mixture of my World of Water Project based at the Railway Land Nature Reserve and my brother Ed the Bear's One World One Ocean Display



We also ran an activiy about pond life and we borrowed a few pond animals from one of the ponds here on the nature reserve.

I helped collect some pond animals from my raft. The raft is made up almost completely of recycled items such as plastic bottles and wood.

We then showed the animals using a video camera which was connected to a projector. 

We zoomed in on the animals and then  people could see them swimming around on the screen

Later we took people around the reserve on a water themed walk.

We started outside the Linklater Pavilion where the flood level of 2000 was shown on the wall.

We then looked at the honey bees entering and leaving the hive. Bees collect freshwater to help keep the hive cool and nurse bees need water to help make the jelly they feed to the larvae. They also use water to help stop honey from crystallizing.

We visited the woodland and considered how much water a tree need a day and then consider the woodland.

We looked at the Winterbourne Stream - my favourite view

We visited the pond and then walked through teh heart of reeds where we saw coots. This is a young one.

There was a loud plop as a marsh frog jumped into the water.

It was great to show people how amazing the nature reserve is and what fascinating wildlife. Also to show how important freshwater is to so many different animals and plants

Ice in space

Hi all

I discovered today that their is ice in space. Infact a large chunk of ice is whizzing past our planet. Its called a comet.

It appears that some scientists think that the water on earth might have originally come from collisions with comets, way before humans or bears lived on earth. I will have to find out more about this.

The comet is just about visible with a telescope. I had a look but it was too cloudy to see anything.

Frog spawn uncovered

Hi all

You may remember that I covered up the frog spawn in my pond to protect it against the ice and snow.

Well the snow and ice has melted and I uncovered the frog spawn today and it looks like it has not been damaged by the cold weather.

Snow flakes reflect light

Hi, it may seem strange but snow is actually very bright and its a good idea to wear sunglasses when its sunny and snowy. Thats because the sunlight is reflected by all the snow flake crystals.

In places like Antartica, where Ed the Bear visited recently, you can suffer badly from the bright sun reflecting of the snow. They call it snow blindness but it doesn't make you permenantly blind.

I took this picture near my house at night (without a flash) and you can see all teh way up the trackbecause the snow reflects the moon light and the street lights.

This is a picture I took of foxes a few weeks ago - its all black and no sighn of the foxes. The snow makes a real difference to seeing at night.

Snow covered frog spawn

It snowed very heavily during the night and the pond is frozen and the sheet I covered the frog spawn with is covered with snow.

I hope the frog spawn is safe.

The frogs will be safe at the bottom of the pond. Althought frogs have lungs, they can also breathe through their skin

Protecting the frog spawn

I heard that the weather was going to get very cold and that we would also get some more snow. I was worried that this would damage the frog spawn, so I carefully covered the eggs with a water proof sheet.

Very soon it began to snow, I hope the frog spawn will be safe. Snow is already settling on the sheet.

Frogs return to my pond to spawn

Hi

I awoke this morning to see that the frogs had returned to my pond and started to spawn. There were several clumps of frog spawn floating in the pond

Later in the day when the sun came out I took a closer look.

The frogs were very active, but they quickly dived underwater when I came near.

So I decided to sit very still at the edge of the pond and wait for them to come back up.

As long as I did not move the frogs didn't appear to notice me.

Spring flowers and bumble bees

Hi all

Well it seems like spring is here at last.

There are many spring flowers in my garden and I saw my first queen bumble bee. The queen bumble hibernates in the winter.

Unlike honey bees, only the queen survives the winter. She comes out of hibernation in March when the weather is warmer and there are spring flowers to visit.

Once the queen has visited a few flowers for nectar, she will search for a place to make a nest and start a new bumble bee colony. this will usually be underground

Fun in the snow

Ed the Bear is coming to visit today. He always enjoys a good joke so I thought I would play a trick on him.

Ed could see me as he came into my garden, he called but I did not answer

The snow was quite deep so he had to wade through the snow to reach me.

What a surprise when he got to where he thought I was standing to find my snow bear.

Ed thought it was very funny.

We went for a walk to see what animals we could see in the park. There were quite a few birds.

There were several blackbird looking for food.

A a flock of beautiful goldfinches were flying about in the tree.

While Ed carried on watching the birds I climb some trees.

The one thing we like better than snow is climbing trees.

It started snowing and I found this old log, which was like a cave to shelter in.

Then Ed caught up to me and challenged me to a snow ball fight.

Ed found a good hiding place to throw snow balls from.

I think Ed must have been practising snow ball throwing while he was in Antarctica on his recent trip as he was a much better shot than me - although I do have shorter arms and small paws.

Good shot Ed

On the way home we passed the animal sanctuary...

and saw the horses

...and ducks

We had great fun in the snow.

Bye for now

Bella Bear

Water everywhere, solid, liquid and vapour

The weather forecast was right, I looked out the window this morning and its snowing.

It was snowing quite hard and it soon piled up on my window - if you look closely you can see parts of snow flakes.

I went out into the garden and checked the thermometer.

- it was minus 3 degrees.

I had a look at my pond. The surface was still frozen over as ice.

Water is amazing, as it can be solid (ice and snow), liquid (water underneath the ice) and gas or vapour (clouds and my breathe) all in the same place. Most substances can only be a solid, liquid or gas not all at once. Even more reasons why water is so amazing.

While the flakes are small and light, you can roll some together in a ball shape so all the flakes are squashed together and then you can throw it.

Snow ball fight anyone, as I said we bears love the snow.

Bye for now, I am just going out to have some more fun in the snow. Oh yes, my brother Ed the Bear is coming to visit tomorrow, I hope its still snowy.

Have fun in the snow, Bella Bear