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Last Monday I ran another one of my Wildlife Action workshops with some of my friends.

We were creating bird food or bird cakes to put in our gardens to do a bird survey. We each did a recipe from either the Wildlife Action award book or we could invent one of our own. We had five different bird cakes which we have now put in our own gardens to attract birds. I also created a scoring sheet so we could keep track of all the birds that have eaten our bird food.

We have each done a survey for one hour in our own gardens and we’ll see which food is the best to attract birds into your garden. I had around 100 visits within the hour in my garden to different meals we’ve created. I hope everyone else gets such a good result when we next have our Wildlife Action meeting when we will compare results.

We have had moments when I had no birds in the garden due to visits by four crows, two cats, a sparrow hawk and high winds! If we didn’t have the crows flying around then we would have had more visits to our bird table because the pesky crows nicked half the food and flew away with it!

This is Elliott E logging off…

Yesterday I ran another Wildlife Action workshop all about building bird boxes.

Over this last week I’ve been busy preparing for yesterdays workshop by buying the wood and nails for the boxes. I had to measure and mark out the planks for them to be cut into the shapes of the front, back, sides, base and the roof so the group could nail it all together the next day.

I also recycled some old inner tubing off a bike tyre and used it as the hinges for the roof so we could clear it out at the end of the year.

It took all Sunday to finish measuring, cutting, drilling and sandpapering all the pieces of wood so that the group had self assembly “packs”. It was great to see it all coming together so neatly. Now my dad needed to step in and drill the holes in the front panel so the birds could get in and out using a special drill attachment. I was going to nail one together to get to grips with how to put it together but sadly the nails I bought were too short. I got some more the next day so that I could put together the sample bird box.

Everyone in the group did an amazing job making their bird boxes. They looked fantastic! The day went very smoothly and everyone now has a bird box to put up in thier own gardens so the little birds will have somewhere to nest in the spring.

This is Elliott E logging off

On the 1st of November from 10am -3pm I got involved in a Countryside Volunteer Conservation Task Day.

It was great fun and it was good to see so many people wanting to get involved and want to help clean up at my local countryside park.

When I arrived a group of people were putting up bird boxes. We also got to put our names on them so we could come back at a later date and see if anything is flying in and out of the nest box. Each box is numbered so that a survey can be carried out to see what species of bird nests and breed in each box. Apparently  60% of the bird boxes are occupied but sometimes other creatures besides birds live in them such as bats and hornets!

We then joined the rest of the group to help open up the area around the entrance by cutting low hanging branches. It had been a long time since anyone had done this. You could tell by the different types and amounts of rubbish that was scattered around.  As we cleared the little copse we collected the litter such as bottles. cans, plastic bags and even an exercise mat! Besides being nasty to look at this rubbish is dangerous to wildlife. Most of it could be recycled but the rest would have to go in the rubbish skip.

After five hours cutting thorns, brambles and low hanging branches and cutting up all the wood and separating it into the fire and the log pile we were done. We had a huge bonfire to burn the branches. It was lit in an area of brambles and nettles. The ash makes the soil rich which is good for nettles. The brambles would also cover over the pile of ash quickly. Our Ranger did not light the fire in an open grassy area because there would be a big black patch for a long while and wild flowers do not like rich soil.

The area that was once overgrown is now a nice clear opening. To finish it off we decided to put up more boxes each with a volunteer’s name on them.

Now the entrance to the park looks fit for wildlife and is great for the local people to look and enjoy. 

Everybody got a CSV “Countryside Volunteers” Make a difference day certificate to show how hard we had all worked.  

It was hard work but ll great fun and I want to help on more practical conservation tasks..

This is Elliott E logging out…

Sorry I haven’t been posting any of my daily goings on recently because I’ve been going to the Cheltenham literature festival.

I  have met many famous people. I have met Russell T Davies the director and creator of the new Doctor Who series as well as making Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures. I also met Harry Hill the famous comedian who presents shows like “You’ve been framed” and “Harry Hill’s TV burp!”

While being at the literature festival I met a writer called Andy Briggs the author of the Hero.com and the Villain.net books, see www.whichsideareyouon.co.uk 

Also you can visit his myspace page. Please click here to view his myspace

I have recently finished Hero.com and I was blown away by the amazing plot, links and happenings setting the plot for the story of Villain.net. Once you know the plot the first thing you think is “How come no one has thought of this before?” It is an amazing book for both boys and girls from age 9+.

I think I’ll be definitely going back to the Cheltenham literature festival next year.

Dear EGEmedia viewers, this is Elliott E here say what a SUPER SEPTEMBER it has been for me!

May I just say happy birthday to Google the world’s largest internet search engine. Google turned 10 on the 26th and there still the brilliant search engine it was 10 years ago. Good on you google!

On the 22nd of September I started and ran a Wildlife science club.  To get everyone warmed up for the first session we did Minibeast homes. We also started a wildlife garden so animals had somewhere to go. In the end we made it a home for ladybirds, earwigs, bumblebees, centipedes, millipedes, fungi, worms, woodlice, slugs, meadow browns, gatekeepers, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, frog hoppers and lodes more different types of Minibeast.

I Also started another GCSE equivalent. Its called the Certificate Of Personal Effectiveness levle 2. There’s a lot of paper work involved but I think its worth it to get a GCSE.

On the 8th I got a new music teacher called Mathew. He is teaching me Piano and Saxophone. I’m new at Saxophone but with Matthew I’m growing in confidence. Hi Matthew!:) 

This Monday I started a swimming course going for a gold certificate. Wish me luck!

But the best thing about September for me was going out in our Motor Home. On the 17th we went to Anglesey. It was great fun and on one beach when the tide had come in and was starting to go out we climbed over some rocks and the tide had made one beach into three. We go out the deckchairs and rugs and settled down on this little bit of sand separated by the sea from the main beatch. This was our beach until the sea went out. Sadly the day we found that beatch was the day we had to go home. The 20th of September the last day of my holiday!

Please comment and tell me what you’ve been doing this September. It could be anything, holidays, going to a  new school. Whatever you’ve been doing please tell me and prove that September rearly is SUPER!

This is Elliott E logging off.

This is Elliott E saying that the Olyimpics are over for 2008 but great news! In 2012 we will be hosting the Olympics in London “!!!YAY!!!” Sadly we have to wait 4 years till the Olympics come to london ” NO MORE OLYIMPICS!!! NOOOOO “ so now we have to wait four whole years for more Olyimpic thrills.  

Hope you have enjoyed the Olympics as much as I have. GB finished the Olyimpics in fourth place just behind Russia who over took us in the charts on the second to last day.

Please comment, thankyou

Hello there. This is Elliott E giving credit to all the Brittish people who have won medals in the Olympics! “May I just say that some of these medals were awarded to people in teams as well as individually”

First up we have the gold winners

JAMES Tom, WILLIAMS Steve, REED Pete, TRIGGS HODGE Andrew, PURCHASE Zac, HUNTER Mark, AINSLIE Ben, AYTON Sarah, WEBB Sarah, WILSON Pippa, ADLINGTON Rebecca, ADLINGTON Rebecca, COOKE Nicole, HOY Chris, HOY Chris, KENNY Jason, STAFF Jamie, WIGGINS Bradley, CLANCY Ed, MANNING Paul, THOMAS Geraint, ROMERO Rebecca

Now for the silver winners

VERNON Annie, FLOOD Debbie, HOUGHTON Frances, GRAINGER Katherine, PARTRIDGE Alex, STALLARD Tom, LUCY Tom, EGINGTON Richard, WEST Josh, HEATHCOTE Alastair, LANGRIDGE Matt, SMITH Colin, NETHERCOTT Acer, ROGERS Nick, GLANFIELD Joe, FLORENCE David, POOLEY Emma, EDGAR Ross, HOUVENAGHEL Wendy

and last but not least its the bronze winners

LAVERICK Elise, BEBINGTON Anna, WELLS Matthew, ROWBOTHAM Stephen, JACKSON Joanne, BURKE Steven, NEWTON Chris, COOK Kristina, DICK Daisy, FOX-PITT William, COOK Kristina, HUNT Sharon, KING Mary, SMITH Louis

If you have a favourite competitor then please tell me and if I get enough comments I can add your votes to how they are doing in the Olympics to see who are the best.

Hello this is Elliott E here saying what an amazing Olympics this has been! Here is the leader Board to show you whats going on!

1	CHN	39	14	14
2	USA	22	24	26
3	GBR	12	7	8
4	AUS	11	10	12
5	GER	9	7	7
6	RUS	8	13	15
7	KOR	8	9	6
8	JPN	8	5	7
9	ITA	6	6	6
10	UKR	5	3	8
13	NED	3	5	4
21	DEN	2	1	3
31	NOR	1	2	2
45	SWE	0	3	0
47	AUT	0	1	2

We are now in third place with 27 medals “12 Golds, 7 Silvers, 8 Bronze”, 

The Americans are in second place with 72 medals “22 Golds, 24 silvers, 26 Bronze”

and the Chinese are in first place with 67 medals “39 Golds, 14 silvers, 14 Bronze”.

Please comment and keep watching all the amazing Olyimpic sports! See you soon

Signed: Elliott E

I have now opened a games page on my website and it is now showing a simple K9 “K9, a Timelord’s best friend of Doctor Who” game in wich the Tardis appears and K9 comes out, then you can make him move around. Happy walkies!