The summer term saw lots of activity on the Estuary with 15 different educational classes delivered on the mudflats of the Exmouth Local Nature Reserve.  More than 380 students were given the opportunity to explore the mud and lakes (the name given to the channels of water left at low tide) of the estuary involving 15 different schools from Exeter, Exmouth and the surrounding areas.

Led by East Devon’s Education Ranger, James Chubb, and Exe Estuary Officer, Jenny Lockett, the groups were introduced to some of the weird and wonderful creatures that make this extreme habitat their home.  They were taught about the adaptations the different species have developed for survival in an environment which changes so frequently that the animals spend half their time under water and the other half exposed to the air, not to mention the changes in salinity and the movement of sediments.  The groups also learnt about the geography of the Exe from its origin on Exmoor, through the county, and joining the sea in the estuary.

Several of the groups continued their learning when they returned to class and have written personal accounts of their day.  Those shown below were written by students of St Peters School.  Additional information and student’s reports can be found on the exe estuary website (www.exe-estuary.org).

For more information on the educational sessions provided please contact the Exe Estuary Officer or East Devon’s Education Ranger.

Thanks to St Peters School of Exeter for the use of personal accounts and photographs of your day on the Exe Estuary.

My Day At Exmouth

What we did during the day the things we did during the day were a talk about the life boats, we saw some of the stuff they use to save lives and a mud walk on the exe estuary.   My favourite part of the day was the exe estuary mud walk because we found a lot of interesting animals, that I’ve never in my life seen before, they were really cool but some were really gross.  I learnt the following things during my day at Exmouth I learnt a lot of interesting stuff but the most coolest thing was that the estuary is one of the most important things ever. I didn’t like well there was nothing that I did not like because I thought that it was
all interesting, not all of it was fun but it was still all interesting.

My day in Exmouth.

On Thursday 17th July 2008 my tutor group, 7DC and 7LC went to Exmouth.

Firstly when we got to Exmouth we went to the beach for a game of beach ball (my team lost).  Then we went to get an ice cream – YUM-

After that we went shrimping on the estuary. We had to split up into groups of 2’s but I went in a group of 3 (Me, Jo & Joanne.)  Then we were given a tray and a net. Just before we got into the estuary we dug up a rag worm and learnt some information about them. Then we filled up the trays with water and went in.  We caught a load of shrimps and about 2 live crabs but 2 or 3 dead ones. We learnt that the crabs might not have been dead but an old shell.

On the way back to the beach we took the train it was really funny because we were waving all the people we saw.

When we got to the beach we had our lunch while listening to the woman telling us about the RoyalNationalLifeboatInstitution. After we had finished our lunch we did a quick game about the flags. Then we went to look at a lifeboat and how they use them.

Finally we walked back to get on the coach.

Exmouth

When we finished playing volleyball we had a long walk to the estuary where we changed in to our wellies and spear shoes. Then we were given nets and trays in our groups of twos and threes. Then we set off for the water I was with Joe and phoebe we slopped throw the muddy gunk to listen to the lady .She told us all about rag worms so then we started digging them up the first attempt we did not find the rag worms but then I had a go at digging and we found a big rag worm that let off a yellow substance that was to worn off predators so we put it back into the hole .After that we went to the part of the estuary that had flowing water so we started SHRIMPING! Me, Joe and Phoebe started to get into the water and started flinging around are nets attempting to catch stuff. By the end of the 30 minutes of shrimping we had caught a goby that we named Greg and also some shrimps also even crabs.