nature study - dead things

Things are getting odd down on the farm. It's getting to the point where I'm slightly scared to go.

We went today for our now twice weekly nature study (it's very popular). At the entrance I told nice lady that they had found the owl pellets really interesting. She got a glint in her eye.

"Children, would you like to see a real barn owl?"

Coos and "ooooh, yes" from every one.

She led us to the staff only area, which gave me a weird thrill of excitement in itself. I was too engrossed in the normally off limits area to notice what nice lady was doing. Like a magician, she suddenly produced a dead barn owl from behind her back.

That's right. A dead barn owl.

It had fallen in a barrel the night before and died of hypothermia. It was perfectly preserved and they are going to get it stuffed and put on the nature table.

A warning would have been nice though. I kind of felt like I had bought some thing and not read the small print properly. Her words were "Would you like to see a real owl?" She omitted to mention it was not breathing.

The kids didn't freak out as I expected, but then only OD understood it was dead. EB kept asking why it was floppy and MB was adamant it was blinking at him. We got a demonstration of how owls turn their heads, stick their heads into their chests to keep warm. We examined the incredibly sharp talons up close and got to stroke the back of it. It was macabre but intriguing. A live owl would never have been so accommodating.

Lots was learnt about the anatomy of an owl. It was probably the highlight of their day.

Until this:

We were just about to leave when another nice lady came running after us. I thought I had left a coat behind. Slightly out of breath she wheezed:

"I found this and thought you would like it."

It was a slightly squashed, dead toad. I opened my mouth to say no thank you very much, but was beaten to it by my kids who all squealed in delight and promised to take it apart very carefully.

OD was given the job of holding the paper bag in the car. When we got home she confessed that she had been playing with the toad on the way home and had dropped it in the car, some where. I have looked a little bit but haven't found it yet (we have an ancient seven seater so there are plenty of nooks and crannies into which a toad could fall.)


I tried to explain to DH when he got home from work and he thought I was making up a terrible lie in order to get him to muck out the car. It does sound a little strange "dearest, today the children lost a dead toad in the car, could you possibly spare a few minutes helping me find it?)

I also don't want to think too much about how you "play" with a dead toad, and whether this is normal behaviour for an eight year old girl.

Wish me luck toad hunting.

This is rainy day nature study. (Note spiderman in the far right.)