On Tuesday 21 July, 40 children, aged between 5 and 8, from the Yannick Noah outdoor activity centre in Carrières-sous-Poissy, visited the Parc du Peuple de l’Herbe and took part in an activity organised by the Departmental Council in partnership with the French association for the Protection of Birds (LPO).

The activity enabled children to get to grips with various species of bird around La Vieille Ferme lake with various fun and educational exercises.

The children first enjoyed a picnic at the park before making their way over to La Veille Ferme lake to meet two activity leaders from the LPO.

The children were split into two groups to take part in various activities:

• A birdwatching activity using a spotting scope and binoculars to see what birds were at the lake. They were fortunate enough to spot a grey heron, a family of common moorhens as well as several black-headed gulls.
• A bird track identification game (great egret, common kingfisher and red-eared slider).
• A birdsong identification game (e.g. pigeon, gull and owl)
• A game called “What is a bird?”, which looked at specific features of birds.
• An “Aquatic birds” steal the bacon game: two teams were created and a number was given to each child. The aim of the game was for children to get the photo of the bird corresponding to the name given by the activity leader before their opponents.

At the end of each activity, each child was awarded a young ornithologist certificate, an ornithological guide and some goodies provided by the Departmental Council.

The activity-packed day gave the children a chance to explore a section of the park and its fauna as well as find out about the importance of safeguarding nature.