Thanks Sally.
We had a very interesting lesson yesterday about seed dispersal. It was great to be able to learn about the seeds on Aride. It made our lesson much more exciting.
Nina
Thursday, 27 March 2008
Sunday, 16 March 2008
The coconuts float and can travel great distances, especially as the seed has it's own water supply.
Once the coconut has been washed up on the beach crest which is the area at the top of the beach it is ablt to sprout and grow roots.
The Pisonia seeds are really sticky, with lots of little fingers which hang onto things. You can see here it has stuck to a piece of grass and even a woodlice
Indian Mulberry Tree that produces fruits that ferment and become alcoholic.
Saturday, 15 March 2008
The life cycle of some of Aride’s plants
The Coconut Palm
The coconut palm produces large seeds in the form of coconuts, which drop to
the ground and either grow where they fall or due to their design they are able to travel for miles. Coconuts float, which means they can travel for long distances on the sea. To feed the seed whilst on its journey it has a supply of water inside, which is very sweet and what we know as coconut water. As soon as the nut reaches land and gets washed up on the shore, the seed is r
eady to grow.
Many coconuts are washed up on the shores here at Aride, and they can be seen sprouting along the top of the beach – in the area known as the beach crest.
The Pisonia Tree
The pisonnia tree is the main tree on Aride Island; it grows right across the island
as both trees and bushes.
It is very clever how it seeds it self, it has lovely small white flowers which produce bullet shaped seeds which have a number of small fingers. These fingers are very sticky and they stick to everything that comes into contact with them, including our feet, as a result they can get moved great distances enabling the tree to spread.
The coconut palm produces large seeds in the form of coconuts, which drop to
the ground and either grow where they fall or due to their design they are able to travel for miles. Coconuts float, which means they can travel for long distances on the sea. To feed the seed whilst on its journey it has a supply of water inside, which is very sweet and what we know as coconut water. As soon as the nut reaches land and gets washed up on the shore, the seed is r
eady to grow.Many coconuts are washed up on the shores here at Aride, and they can be seen sprouting along the top of the beach – in the area known as the beach crest.
The Pisonia Tree
The pisonnia tree is the main tree on Aride Island; it grows right across the island
as both trees and bushes.It is very clever how it seeds it self, it has lovely small white flowers which produce bullet shaped seeds which have a number of small fingers. These fingers are very sticky and they stick to everything that comes into contact with them, including our feet, as a result they can get moved great distances enabling the tree to spread.
The Fruit Bat Tree
This tree produces fruits that the fruit bat finds irresistible, they are about the size of lemons and one of the main foods that the fruit bat eats. The seeds are held insid
e the fruit and so when the bats produce dropping the seeds get spread right across the island. The fruit bats on Aride can fly for miles, sometime over to the main island of Praslin, over 6 miles away, so they will be transporting the seeds of Aride’s fruit bat tree without even realising it!
This tree produces fruits that the fruit bat finds irresistible, they are about the size of lemons and one of the main foods that the fruit bat eats. The seeds are held insid
e the fruit and so when the bats produce dropping the seeds get spread right across the island. The fruit bats on Aride can fly for miles, sometime over to the main island of Praslin, over 6 miles away, so they will be transporting the seeds of Aride’s fruit bat tree without even realising it!The Indian Mulberry Tree
Like the fruits of the fruit bat tree the Indian Mulberry fruits can transported by birds eating the seeds inside the fruit and spreading them in their droppings. The Indian Mulberry fruits are very desirable and a favourite of many of the b
irds here on Aride. The fruits ferment and become alcoholic and actually make the birds drunk
.
Like the fruits of the fruit bat tree the Indian Mulberry fruits can transported by birds eating the seeds inside the fruit and spreading them in their droppings. The Indian Mulberry fruits are very desirable and a favourite of many of the b
irds here on Aride. The fruits ferment and become alcoholic and actually make the birds drunk
. We often see birds, particularly pigeons, drunk on the mulberry fruits, they stagger around unable to stand up or fly, so we put them in a quite place to sober up and to recover from their hangovers!!
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
lifecycles of plants
Sally,
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. It is all so interesting.
We are now studying the lifecylces of plants and I thought it might be interesting if you could show us some pictures of different plants and tell us about the seeds for each plant and how the seeds are dispersed.
Any information about the lifecycle of plants on the island would be great.
Nina
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. It is all so interesting.
We are now studying the lifecylces of plants and I thought it might be interesting if you could show us some pictures of different plants and tell us about the seeds for each plant and how the seeds are dispersed.
Any information about the lifecycle of plants on the island would be great.
Nina
Monday, 10 March 2008
Hi Class 4
Thank you so much for all your questions – we hope we have managed to answer them all:
The food can be a little limited on choice and variety, we don’t get the range here, like you get back in Britain and things te
nd to be more seasonal. We eat a lot of fish, rice and lentils, together with fruit and vegetables. The latter two are mainly grown locally and imported, so either way there isn’t always a huge selection. Sometimes we can’t get some foods, like at the moment we can’t get milk. There hasn’t been milk in the Seychelles now for nearly 2 weeks, the shops have also run out on potatoes, onions, carrots and ginger since we have been here.
We try to use as little electricity as we can, as we currently get it from a generator which is run on diesel, and is not good for the environment. We do not use appliances with heating elements, like kettles, toasters and electric ovens as they use a lot of electricity, so we use gas instead. We plan to operate the generator only certain hours of the day, however this is not possible at the moment because when it isn’t running it gets damaged due to the build up of moisture.
We can sometimes get chocolate, but not very often, it also tends to melt in the heat here and so always needs to be kept in the fridge.
Hi Harry D,
There are definitely times when we miss our family, but we have email, telephone and can write letters to keep in touch. I speak to my Mum and Dad about every fortnight and because it isn’t that often when we do speak it is very special. It is nice to write and receive letters too, with email and computers people don’t tend do this much anymore, but because our internet connection can be so poor it is often more reliable here.
There are definitely times when we miss our family, but we have email, telephone and can write letters to keep in touch. I speak to my Mum and Dad about every fortnight and because it isn’t that often when we do speak it is very special. It is nice to write and receive letters too, with email and computers people don’t tend do this much anymore, but because our internet connection can be so poor it is often more reliable here.
We don’t really miss watching TV, but Melv misses hearing the news and we both do miss watching the football and other sport.
Sometimes we can get chocolate, but it is expensive because it is imported, we can get baked beans and crisps, but they are very different and don’t taste the same as from the UK. But there is plenty to eat – it is just different and we are now eating more Creole food rather than trying to buy what we would eat back in Britain. Milk and cheese are very hard to get and we miss these more than anything.
Our favourite fruit is the papaya, because it is tasty and fills you up, we get quite a few strange ones like jack fruit, sour soap and custard apple; we will try and take some photographs to show you.
Hi Alf and Joseph,
We have caught many different types of fish they are:
Edible ones:
· Groupers
o Tomato
o Honeycomb
o Lyre tail
· Emperors
o Spangled
o Blotched eyed
o Queen
o Madam red bonnet
· Snapper
o Yellow finned
· Barracuda
· Bonito
· Trevally
None edible ones to put back:
· Needle Fish
· White tipped shark
· Trigger fish
· Remora – have a flat head and live on sharks
We have caught many different types of fish they are:
Edible ones:
· Groupers
o Tomato
o Honeycomb
o Lyre tail
· Emperors
o Spangled
o Blotched eyed
o Queen
o Madam red bonnet
· Snapper
o Yellow finned
· Barracuda
· Bonito
· Trevally
None edible ones to put back:
· Needle Fish
· White tipped shark
· Trigger fish
· Remora – have a flat head and live on sharks
Hi Maureen,
We have sharks living just 2 metres away from the beach, at least 3 different varieties:
Lemon shark, white tipped and reef sharks.
We have caught white tipped sharks when we have been fishing and let them go, they sometimes take the fish off our hooks and bite through our lines! We have watched sharks off the beach, especially at dusk.
We have sharks living just 2 metres away from the beach, at least 3 different varieties:
Lemon shark, white tipped and reef sharks.
We have caught white tipped sharks when we have been fishing and let them go, they sometimes take the fish off our hooks and bite through our lines! We have watched sharks off the beach, especially at dusk.
Hi William & Harry
People are the largest animals on the island, there are no native mammals in the Seychelles except for bats. But discounting humans, on the island fruit bats are the largest animals, about the size of a buzzard.
People are the largest animals on the island, there are no native mammals in the Seychelles except for bats. But discounting humans, on the island fruit bats are the largest animals, about the size of a buzzard.
Hi James & Ben,
The fruit bats mainly eat the fruit we don’t eat, like Indian Mulberry and the fruit from the fruit bat tree, but they do sometimes take our fruit out of the garden, especially the guava and the papaya. We haven’t had a close encounter with one yet, but we do see them everyday flying and hanging around in trees.
The fruit bats mainly eat the fruit we don’t eat, like Indian Mulberry and the fruit from the fruit bat tree, but they do sometimes take our fruit out of the garden, especially the guava and the papaya. We haven’t had a close encounter with one yet, but we do see them everyday flying and hanging around in trees.
We collect our coconuts from the ground as this means that they are ready to eat. The older the nut the nicer it is, so we look for husks that are dead and dark brown rather than the young and green. However you have to shake the husk to hear if there is any milk inside. If there isn’t this means it may be rotten and not good to eat. Coconuts have adapted to spread by the nut in the husk floating in the sea and whilst it is travelling the nut carries its own water supply in the form of coconut milk. Once all the milk is used up the nut has started to grow and the coconut is no good for eating.
Hi Connor,
So far we must have caught 5 or 6 Barracuda; some of them have been over 1m long. However with all the other fish available, they are not our favourite to eat and so we don’t always try to catch them.
So far we must have caught 5 or 6 Barracuda; some of them have been over 1m long. However with all the other fish available, they are not our favourite to eat and so we don’t always try to catch them.
Hi Luke & Morgan
All the people are very friendly, there is an African influence here and the people are jolly and tend to sing when they speak. Most people only own one shop; the shops are like the small corner shops that we still get in the UK, like Happy Shopper or Londis.
8,000 people live on Praslin, so it is smaller than Glastonbury or Street, but there are 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school. Both primary schools have between 4 & 500 children and the secondary has 530 children.
All the people are very friendly, there is an African influence here and the people are jolly and tend to sing when they speak. Most people only own one shop; the shops are like the small corner shops that we still get in the UK, like Happy Shopper or Londis.
8,000 people live on Praslin, so it is smaller than Glastonbury or Street, but there are 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school. Both primary schools have between 4 & 500 children and the secondary has 530 children.
Hi Gemma and Georgia
Our best fruits are the papaya and sour soap; both are very different but are really tasty. The Papaya is like a melon, but not so watery and very filling. The sour soap is like eating a sharp lemon sorbet, very refreshing but with a chewy texture.
Our best fruits are the papaya and sour soap; both are very different but are really tasty. The Papaya is like a melon, but not so watery and very filling. The sour soap is like eating a sharp lemon sorbet, very refreshing but with a chewy texture.
We have liked all the fish we have tried, but our favourite so far has to be the grouper family, which are a soft fish with a
subtle flavour, a little like cod, but not as flaky.
We both catch fish and go fishing 2 or 3 times a week depending on what work we have to do and how rough the sea is. We do have big tropical storms and sometimes it can rain all day and the wind can be really strong making the waves large and the sea very rough. The fish really vary in size the biggest we have caught is over ten kilos and the smallest just half a kilo.
We have banana trees on the island and the bananas are just starting to develop. We can also buy bananas from the shops and so we tend to eat them everyday for breakfast. The food is great here, Melv is the cook and he has learnt also of recipes from the local rangers on the island. We eat a lot of spicy curries, especially with fish together with rice and dhal made from lentils.
subtle flavour, a little like cod, but not as flaky.We both catch fish and go fishing 2 or 3 times a week depending on what work we have to do and how rough the sea is. We do have big tropical storms and sometimes it can rain all day and the wind can be really strong making the waves large and the sea very rough. The fish really vary in size the biggest we have caught is over ten kilos and the smallest just half a kilo.
We have banana trees on the island and the bananas are just starting to develop. We can also buy bananas from the shops and so we tend to eat them everyday for breakfast. The food is great here, Melv is the cook and he has learnt also of recipes from the local rangers on the island. We eat a lot of spicy curries, especially with fish together with rice and dhal made from lentils.
Hi Rowan and Abi
I visited Grand Anse Primary School which was over 400 children, with 15 classes and around 30 children in each class. The picture on the blog is of the Aride club from the school, which is an after school club.
I visited Grand Anse Primary School which was over 400 children, with 15 classes and around 30 children in each class. The picture on the blog is of the Aride club from the school, which is an after school club.
The food can be a little limited on choice and variety, we don’t get the range here, like you get back in Britain and things te
nd to be more seasonal. We eat a lot of fish, rice and lentils, together with fruit and vegetables. The latter two are mainly grown locally and imported, so either way there isn’t always a huge selection. Sometimes we can’t get some foods, like at the moment we can’t get milk. There hasn’t been milk in the Seychelles now for nearly 2 weeks, the shops have also run out on potatoes, onions, carrots and ginger since we have been here.We try to use as little electricity as we can, as we currently get it from a generator which is run on diesel, and is not good for the environment. We do not use appliances with heating elements, like kettles, toasters and electric ovens as they use a lot of electricity, so we use gas instead. We plan to operate the generator only certain hours of the day, however this is not possible at the moment because when it isn’t running it gets damaged due to the build up of moisture.
We can sometimes get chocolate, but not very often, it also tends to melt in the heat here and so always needs to be kept in the fridge.
Hi Jamie & Louis
It can be quite hard sometimes, but to be able to live in such a special place as this – it is worth it. We do drink the rain water, once it has been through a filter; we keep a couple of bottles filtered in the fridge so it is always nice and cold ready for when we need a drink. Sometimes as a real treat when we fancy a sugary drink, we buy a bottle of coca cola from the shop, but quite often we have drunk it before we get back to the island! As a weekly treat we do buy bottles of the local beer, Seybrew, to drink in an evening, but drinking too much alcohol is bad for you in such a hot climate as it makes you even more dehydrated.
It can be quite hard sometimes, but to be able to live in such a special place as this – it is worth it. We do drink the rain water, once it has been through a filter; we keep a couple of bottles filtered in the fridge so it is always nice and cold ready for when we need a drink. Sometimes as a real treat when we fancy a sugary drink, we buy a bottle of coca cola from the shop, but quite often we have drunk it before we get back to the island! As a weekly treat we do buy bottles of the local beer, Seybrew, to drink in an evening, but drinking too much alcohol is bad for you in such a hot climate as it makes you even more dehydrated.
Hi Tom & Kieran
We have plenty of water for each day, but when it rains we must make sure that we top our water barrels up so we maintain the supply. Some days we have a lot of rain, just last week we had 93mm in 24 hours. This not only filled up our barrels but brought the level of the water in the well up too; because the island is hilly the water runs down off the hill onto the plateau where we live.
Hi Luke & Charlie,
All pineapples are red when they are young, they turn green when the fruit has grown to its full size and then as they start to ripen they turn orangey yellow.
We have plenty of water for each day, but when it rains we must make sure that we top our water barrels up so we maintain the supply. Some days we have a lot of rain, just last week we had 93mm in 24 hours. This not only filled up our barrels but brought the level of the water in the well up too; because the island is hilly the water runs down off the hill onto the plateau where we live.
Hi Luke & Charlie,
All pineapples are red when they are young, they turn green when the fruit has grown to its full size and then as they start to ripen they turn orangey yellow.
We have 2 geckos living in our house and they feed of the insects there. There is also a family of geckos that live in the toilet hut, which we often see.
We don’t have pythons on the island but do have yellow wolf snakes, these grow to 1.5m long and are not dangerous. They are the main snake on the island, but we have only seen one once in 3 months, which is a shame because they are beautiful.
Hi Maureen and Jade
The nets above our bed are to prevent us being bitten by mosquitoes and other creepy crawlies whilst we asleep. They are excellent and it means that we can go to sleep without worrying about
what might be crawling on us.
The nets above our bed are to prevent us being bitten by mosquitoes and other creepy crawlies whilst we asleep. They are excellent and it means that we can go to sleep without worrying about
what might be crawling on us. In addition to the wildlife, for entertainment we have books, musical instruments, music and activities like writing letters, fishing, cooking, snorkelling, swimming, photography, drawing and painting. We are trying to write a dairy too so that takes a bit of time. We work until late and the evenings are short, it gets dark by 6.30pm every night right through the year, – so there isn’t a lot of spare time.
We live on an island which is covered in trees, a lot of the plants that grow under them we grow back in the UK in frost free environments like your house. There are plants like Dactura, which we call Angels Trumpets at home, which have very long white flowers and fill the air with perfume in the evening; we have one growing just outside our house. We have a shrub called Wrights’ Gardenia which only grows on Aride island, and nowhere else in the world. After heavy rain, all the Wrights’ Gardenia plants on the island, 1,000’s of them, flower at the once and the smell is delicious.
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
Hi Class 4
Thanks so much for all you questions and great to read that all is well back in Somerset. Melv and I will write some answers over the weekend and post them on - so keep watching the blog.
I went into Grand Anse Primary School yesterday and met the children there, it was my first visit to a Seychelles school to actually talk to some of the children. Grand Anse is the main village on the island of Praslin where we moor the boat up to do all our shopping. The school has formed a group called the Eco-Aride Club and I hope to work with them, together with other schools through the year.
I must admit I was a little apprehensive about going into a school unable to speak the local language, but I needn’t have been, their English was excellent. All the schools are very keen on environmental education and the children were really interested to hear about the wildlife that we have on Aride island. We talked about the food chain on the fairy tern and played the food web game. A lot of them have never been to the island so they had plenty of questions.
I also told them about you and Meare Village Primary School and they were really excited to hear that they would be able to 'talk' to children from Somerset and look forward to introducing themselves to you. Unfortunately they do not have an Internet connection, but we hope to help them get one, and until then I will bring things back to the island to put on line.
So over the next two weeks they are going to write about themselves and they are going to think of lots of questions to ask you, ready for when I go back into school - I hope that is OK? Do you think you will be able to do the same?
They would also like to see a photograph of you, this one of them is taken in their school grounds
chocolate and family
Hi Sally and Melv,
Are you missing your family. HOW DO YOU COPE WITHOUT TV!! Your missing out on chocolate, crisps,sweets, and baked beans!If I were you I'd have died of hunger so far!
From
Harry Durston
Are you missing your family. HOW DO YOU COPE WITHOUT TV!! Your missing out on chocolate, crisps,sweets, and baked beans!If I were you I'd have died of hunger so far!
From
Harry Durston
fish fish and more fish
Me and Joseph were just wondering how many different types of fish you have caught.
From Alf and Joe
From Alf and Joe
Fruit bats
Fruit bats
We are just wondering if fruit bats have
taken any of your food or have had a close
incounter with one ?
James/Ben I
fruit
To SALLY & MELV,
What is your best fruit there?
Did you like the fish that night That Melv caught?
How many fish does Melv catch each day?
Does Sally catch any fish?
Doing fine at Meare. How are you doing over there?
We are wondering what the school you went to was called
Over at Meare we are learning about FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT!!!!
How many classes are in that school you went to?
Are there any banana trees in the Seychelles ?
Does the food taste nice ?
How do you cook the food?
How heavy is the fish there?
Are there massive storms there?
from Gemma & Georgia
What is your best fruit there?
Did you like the fish that night That Melv caught?
How many fish does Melv catch each day?
Does Sally catch any fish?
Doing fine at Meare. How are you doing over there?
We are wondering what the school you went to was called
Over at Meare we are learning about FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT!!!!
How many classes are in that school you went to?
Are there any banana trees in the Seychelles ?
Does the food taste nice ?
How do you cook the food?
How heavy is the fish there?
Are there massive storms there?
from Gemma & Georgia
Hi Sally,
Our names are Rowan and Abi
- How big are the schools that you visited?
- Do you eat any more different types of food?
- Do you have a time limit for the electrisity that you use?
- Do you like the fish that Melvin catches?
- Does the fruit taste good and why?
- Can you send us a picture of one of the classes please?
- What's the biggest fish that you've ever caught at the Seychelles?
- What is the heaviest fish that you have ever caught at the Seychelles?
- Do you catch any of the fish?
Hope you like it there.
We don't think we could survive in the Seychelles because there is no chocolate!!
from Rowan and Abi
What do you drink ? ? ?
Hey Sally nd Melv
Having fun? what do you drink rain water? hehe it must be hard being at the seychelles with not much drink.. Well hope your doin well
Keep us posted
bye
Jamie & Louis
Having fun? what do you drink rain water? hehe it must be hard being at the seychelles with not much drink.. Well hope your doin well
Keep us posted
bye
Jamie & Louis
What fish do you catch?
Hi Melv
What fish do you normaly catch and what fruit do you normaly get? How much water do you get each day?
From
Tom&Kieran
pinapples,geckos and pithons
Hi Sally,
I wanted to know why the pineapples are an orangy red in the Seychelles and are there geckos near where you live and pithons.
yours sincerely,
Luke.T & Charlie.O
How do you get your coconuts ?
To Sally,
I was just wondering how do you get your coconuts ?
I saw this video where the locals climb the tree and shake
down the nuts.Can Melv do this? It would be funny to watch him
try or succeed. I hate coconuts but Ben likes them.
From James proud & Ben Isaacs
I was just wondering how do you get your coconuts ?
I saw this video where the locals climb the tree and shake
down the nuts.Can Melv do this? It would be funny to watch him
try or succeed. I hate coconuts but Ben likes them.
From James proud & Ben Isaacs
Hello Sally
My name is Jade and I have got some questions to ask you.
Why you have got nets above your bed?
What else do you have for entertainment except from crabs and geckos to stare at?
Also, my friend Maureen would like to ask what kind of plants do you see over in the Seychelles.
I would like to hear your answers to these questions.
From Jade and Maureen
Year 5 and 6
My name is Jade and I have got some questions to ask you.
Why you have got nets above your bed?
What else do you have for entertainment except from crabs and geckos to stare at?
Also, my friend Maureen would like to ask what kind of plants do you see over in the Seychelles.
I would like to hear your answers to these questions.
From Jade and Maureen
Year 5 and 6
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