The RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch is coming up this weekend (28-30 January 2022), and their Big Schools’ Birdwatch continues till 21 February, so I thought this a good time to create a bird show that ties poetry in to birdwatching.
My video (see below) takes you through the year with 12 ‘learning through laughter, rhythm and rhyme’ poems from my award-winning book ‘Flying High! Discover the poetry in British birds‘.
It’s an edu-taining eco-show for all ages that would work well screened in an assembly, for example, at schools taking part in the Birdwatch. As it covers many aspects of the primary science curriculum, it’s a great way to tie literacy (and laughter) in to science for any KS1 or KS2 (or even KS3 and up) class.
If your kids/pupils perform any of the featured poems themselves, I’d love to see/hear their performances!
The video features the following birds:
0:34 Blackbird (nestbuilding)
1:36 Chiffchaff
2:42 Greenfinch
3:18 Magpie
3:43 Mistle Thrush (incubating eggs)
5:14 Wren
5:53 Hen Harrier
6:48 Blackbird (fledgling)
7:49 Swift
8:12 Mallard duck and Great Crested Grebe
10:17 Goldfinches
11:12 Robin
Most of the poem footage featured in this video are actually taken from longer videos I created during the 2020/2021 lockdowns. These longer videos include more background information and facts about each bird. You can view these individual videos as follows:
- Blackbird (nestbuilding)
- Chiffchaff
- Greenfinch
- Magpie
- Mistle Thrush (incubating eggs)
- Wren
- Blackbird (fledgling)
- Swift
- Mallard duck and Great Crested Grebe
- Robin.
You can buy copies of my Flying High! book, which contain these and many more bird poems and bird facts at your local bookstore, or online from me, my publisher, Amazon and more.
I hope you enjoy your birdwatching this weekend, and indeed, the whole year through (in which case you might be interested in taking part in the BTO’s weekly Garden Birdwatch scheme). I wonder what birds you’ll see …
Anneliese Emmans Dean – theBigBuzz – Bringing poetry to life
thebigbuzz.wordpress.com 