Arnside and Silverdale AONB with a 7 year old

[Paul_B]

Earlier this week I took my 7 year old son out to allow his mother to work at home. A lovely few hours walking wherever the feeling took us without a map too. There's a parking space orb three in this hill near a junction. You can get through the wall in a few spots and a gate near the road junction. From there we walked up the hill following the wall until it swung off to the left. We spent the first 20 minutes identifying trees using an ID book. Not a very user friendly one but he got the ID right eventually.

Then we followed our dog along one path leading to another and another. No use of maps. Eventually we got back to the road and walked up that's the van. On the way we had to stop because up ahead a weasel kept poking it's head out from the vegetation by the road to take a look at us. It wanted to cross but kept checking us out at least three times. Then it just ran straight across without looking. A bit further on we thought we saw another. Then over a high wall I spotted a fallow deer very close to us.

Three spots if which two were really close encounters. It's the first weasel and fallow deer he's seen so he was stoked! He now wants to go out like that again, without a planned route to see where we can get to and what we can see. It's amazing what close encounter with nature can do.

 

[Toddy]

Lovely trip out and great memories.
Seven's a brilliant age to start really be aware of the world around us. The mind's awake and physically they're becoming so much more able and independently capable.
I hope you, and your son, have a great many more choice days out.

M

 

[Paul_B]

Muddy is a state of mind! Certainly was Friday out near Jenny Brown's point walking round between little bays there when the tide was out. The boy got rather muddy and the dog too. Well you've got to get muddy sometimes right?!!!

Mind you my unusual super power is to somehow finish a very muddy walk completely clean. Don't know how but I do. Not in childhood though, I often got so muddy my wellies and socks would get left in the mud.

BTW when does childhood end? I'm still enjoying mine!! You know that's the case when your then 5 year old son shakes his head and tells me to not be so daft.

Definitely a good time to get out into nature, although he was a bit more interested when he was younger. He still has his moments where we can't get him to move on a walk because he's forever stopping to check some bit of nature or bug or something.

 

[Toddy]

I'm still enjoying my childhood too and I don't see why I ought to stop.
I would love to be able to say that I'd stay clean, and manage it, but I'm not long in from the garden and I'm muddy to my knees and though I've scrubbed my hands, there's a sort of tide mark where my gloves stopped. I'm going for a shower in a moment
My husband came out to see what I was up to, "You're muddy, you're happy ", and I couldn't lie, and replied, "Yes ".

There are recording sites that would love to have your son's input of what and where. From fungus to invertebrates, birds and mammals, insects and plants.
There's one that measures trees and records them (they have a pattern for a knitted scarf instead of an inchtape and recording very ancient trees can be a great way to jaunt around the country.

 

[Paul_B]

Oh he doesn't know what he finds he's just happy to observe it.

I am the one with a problem though. I have a complete phobia of anything with more legs than a spider, anything with too wiggly body parts such as silverfish, earwigs and above all grubs or larvae of any kind. I am also conscious as a parent that I must not pass my issues onto my son. So I look at what he finds and keep the part of me that's dying as I'm doing it deep down or as fell as I can possibly manage. I do however have have to cope with the replays of any especially horrible bugs he's shown me for a few days afterwards. I'm hoping exposure to the subject of my phobia will make it n easier with time. It worked with heights, I took up climbing and ended up enjoying it.

He got into the national trust's things to do before you're 11 ¾. He got almost halfway before 5 but lost the book. Right now he's halfway or more but he moves on to other things.

He's learning fast especially since he loves reading and factual books hold more interest. Deadly 60 he loved in the early lockdown period. For him to be helpful for any survey groups he'd need to get better ID books. Anyone know good ID books for kids? He's 7 so perhaps adult ones might not be right.