Walk and talk. Daphne | Ranger Cadets guided walking trail

On a hot summer's  day at Hill View, a little black beetle crawls over Daphne's hand, as she explains to us why he isn't flying away. 

'Beetles have two sets of wings,' she says. 'One set is like a shell that protects its body and the other, inside that, are the wings that it flies with.'

Some types of beetle have the two sets of wings fused together, she explains.

'That means they can't fly. I  don't think this one can fly.'

Like all the home ed youngsters, Daphne loves getting out in the fields and woods around the farm and, with Rebecca's guidance, exploring the countryside and its wildlife. She finds insects interesting.

'We've all been helping to build bug hotels. We've got a small one near the farm now and a bigger one up the hill, near the little wood there.'

There's one big difference between a people hotel and a bug hotel. Alll people like clean sheets, warm rooms and comfy beds.

'But different bugs like different things,' Daphne explains. 'We wanted loads of insects to come and live in it. So we put some wood and sticks in some parts. We put rocks and stones. We put sand in some bits, because some bugs might prefer sand to soil. We put leaves and bamboo. We also had kind of bricks that we drilled holes in for bees to lay their eggs in.

'We added as many different natural materials as we could, to make the hotel as diverse as possible, so that loads of different bugs could live in it.'

At the opposite end of the field from the Bug Hotel - right at the start of the Walking Trail - Daphne and her colleagues have been planting a brand new wood. 'It's called the Food Wood,' she says. 

'We planted rows and rows of little trees and they'll all grow either fruit or nuts when they're a little bigger.'

Within the food wood, Daphne and her colleagues have been creating more habitats for wildlife. 'So we've made little ponds, which should attract toads and frogs and insects. We've put up nesting boxes for birds.'

The young learners have also made wood piles in the new wood, as cover for small mamals and slow worms, Daphne explains. 'Rebecca says there are slow worms around the farm.'

Hill View is a great place to find out about the countryside and its inhabitants, Daphne says. 'We've learned so much about how to create the right environment for different animals, birds and insects.

'And we've actually gone out and made them.'

On to next Walk and talk