Wattle Grove P.S.Year 4 & 5 Excursion

Canning River Eco Education Centre

Fun on the bus.

Listening and singing

along to music.

First activity, learning about a Darter bird who managed to get entangled in a large piece of cloth. “Doug” the Darter was rescued and returned to his habitat. A happy ending for this guy but some animals aren’t as fortunate.

Collecting rubbish along the river bank.

Nests for micro bats

All of the rubbish collected on the banks of the Canning River. Yes, there were some microplastics in our collection along with plastic bags, cigarette buts and party supplies.

We were shocked to find out how long some materials take to break up in our environment.

Learning about the importance of a clean river system along with the major river systems in Perth: The Swan River, Canning River and Greater Swan.

Some of the native species. The Bushtail Possum, Chuditch and Black Pacific Duck.

Some of the many animals that threaten our native species. Foxes and cats, especially feral cats.

Sampling the river in order to make a conclusion whether it is a clean area or not. For this, we are looking for very sensitive macroinvetebrates such as the Mayfly nymph

The Macroinvertebrate ID Key:We used these charts to classify the animals and discover how sensitive they were to pollution. Our aim is to find very sensitive animals.

The equipment and record sheet.

Once we collected our samples, we searched for some macroinvetebrates to classify them.

Macroinvertebrate:Freshwater crayfish – a tolerant animal

Macroinvertebrate:Freshwater shrimp – a very tolerant animal