Henry's Wildlife and Nature

 After school last week, we went to Ruthin Park because there had been sightings of a North American Wood Duck there. We were lucky enough to see him and its probably my favourite duck. It also has a sweet call going 'Tssssseeeepppp'  Wood Duck Scientific Name: Aix Sponsa On average, a wood duck will live for 4 years but the oldest one ever was 22 years old!!! These are among the most popular ducks in wildfowl collections throughout the world. This might mean that he had escaped from someone's collection, but he's getting along just fine hanging out with the Mallards. They eat insects and invertebrates. They are very colourful and have a sweet call, so definitely my favourite duck so far, so lucky to have it just by my house. 

Yesterday (12th February) was Charles Darwin Day. This years local celebration was a Botanical Survey. Botanical is the posh word flowers and plants. We went to St. Dyfnogs Well  near my house to do the survey as Julia, a lady from our village, had arranged a survey. Another lady was also there who was an expert on plants, she was explaining everything to us. She also lent me a Hand Lens which would help me see the plants closer up. Ivy Hedera Hibernica There are two different types of Ivy here, near Denbigh. One of them is Hedera Hibernica, which is the one we saw, and Hedera Helix. The way you ID these are the hairs on the underside of the leaf. If it has white hairs and are in a star formation, its Hedera Hibernica. If it has yellow hairs and is lying flat, its Hedera Helix, also known as English Ivy. Dog Mercury Mercurialis Perennis In this picture (sorry not the best, I took them on my phone as it was raining) you can see the old plants from last year and the new ones from this ye