We´ve had some great fun with the last two weeks- we had our Active Week, Biodiversity Week where the local plants and wildlife were explored and many boys have developed gardening green fingers. Finally we had our bakeoff and Mr. Reale has today annouced that Charlie from Ms. Tynan´s class is the winner with his “Social Distancing” Cake!! Well done everyone!

This duck family can be seen on the Dodder below the weir at Lr. Dodder Rd., Rathfarnham. They are now around a month old and have lost four of their number , maybe to predators. They also had to survive a few days last week when the river was in flood after very heavy rain.

And here’s an interesting video on ducklings leaving a nest box when they are just one or two days old.

Science & Wildlife Videos-There´s an amazing range of high quality video clips(2-10mins) which link well with our SESE curriculum and are ideal for project work. Some are listed below.
BBC Springwatch Live Nestcams(also on Facebook)
National Geographic
BBC Earth
Itsokaytobesmart
Animal Logic
Or maybe you would just prefer 10 hours of uninterrupted jungle sounds.
Or a 10 hour train journey(driver view) through Norway to the Arctic Circle in winter, spring, summer and autumn.
Identify the newly fledged birds in your garden
12 different nestcams in Holland
Wood ducklings leave the nest!
White Storks Nest in Austria
On this website you can just “drive” around several cities listening to the street sounds and local radio stations.

Today is the day we should be competing with other schools in the Cumann na mBunscol primary schools athletics. This year it was not to be but we can look back at previous years and look forward to next year with these photos and videos. Hopefully we will be back doing laps and running in cross country events from September. Meanwhile here are some athletics coaching videos to help keep you fit and learn some new skills.

This is the start of the birdnesting season and there are plenty of websites where we can see what our feathered friends are up to.
Here are some and we will be adding more so watch this space.
Sea Eagle nest (2 chicks) in Co. Cork-very rare in Ireland.
Identify the baby birds in your garden
Curlew( a very rare bird with a long beak) in Wales
Lots of cameras here from all around the world.    Another list here
12 different nest cams in Holland. Also here Blackbird
White Stork are very popular in Europe. Watch one nest here. One in AustriaAnother in Germany.

Osprey nest in Scotland.
Falcons, Storks and Vultures in Spain
Sea Ospreys(fish eagles) in England
Also in England Peregrine Falcons nest on the roofs of many cathedrals
Wood Ducks in Washington State, USA (you might see the ducklings fledging like this)
Barn Owls in California
Hummingbird nest in California, USA
Albatross nest in New Zealand(NZ hours of daylight are very different to ours)
Wildlife in woods of Estonia
Brown Bears fishing for salmon-live from Alaska
Check out our Dodder wildlife gallery here.

Check out Joe Wicks

As well as daily exercise, Joe´s key points are-a healthy diet with portion control, drink at least 2l of water every day and a good night´s sleep.
Snowboarder´s workout.
Football and Hurling games you can play in your back garden.
Declan Traenor(TSS) workout for adults-very little space needed
Gymnastics-all you need is a mat or a rug!
Another great workout….
….and here-how to eliminate distractions!!