For Conservation Week this year, I decided it was time to get the kids involved.

Lucky for us, the weekend saw beautiful weather and we happened to live next to Mt Victoria which is a great little spot for a light walk in the bush.

Walking in the bush is serious stuff

I decided we would also make pine cone feeders to entice native birds and Mt Vic is great for pine cones.

Exciting to find pine cones, any pine cones

Cameron and Abby loved the little round pine cones. Cameron collected quite a few in his pockets.

Look at all those pine cones

We eventually found the proper ones I was after – we looked up and saw masses of them in the trees. Fortunately we soon came across some goodies on the ground.

Cameron stopped quite a bit to play in the leaves, and look in holes. We didn’t find any wetas though.

Ooh a cave

After a bit of a hike we came out of the bush and headed to Hataitai Village for some well deserved bakery goods. They were famished. And very tired, so it was a slow walk back home along the usual streets with Cameron in my arms for half the time. Abby was a great little trooper and found fun walking along the lines in the pavement.

Feeding the troops

We finally made it home and started on the pine cone feeders. The kids were obviously still hungry and couldn’t help but munch on the nuts and fruit intended for the birds.

If it weren’t for the dirt and bugs, I would eat it

The  kids had a great time, and learnt a little about nature on the way. They’re still waiting to see some birds feeding on their hard work. I’m still waiting to see if anyone took offense to my rather awkward attempt at a cluster of pine cone feeders…

Rather unfortunate that the third pine cone fell off in transit