Margam Country Park Mr Bloom: Here and There

# Hello! My name is Mr Bloom

# And I'd like to come to see you soon

# I'm out on the road, you see

# Here and there so that we

# Can get together and have some fun

# I'll help you out if there's work to be done

# So where is it you like to go?

# Call me up and let me know

# What is it you like to do?

# I'll pop along and do it too

# Cities, towns or countryside

# I can travel far and wide

# I'm all about and everywhere

# I'm here and there

# Here and there

# I'm here and there. #

Oh! Hello there, tiddlers. How are you tiddling?

Mr Bloom here and I like going out and about.

I like going here and there, doing fun things and finding new places.

I've been wondering - what do you like to do where you live?

Perhaps you like to ride your bike in the park

or walk in the woods with your family.

-BELL RINGS

-Brilliant! Someone's got in touch.

Shall we see who it is? Yeah!

My name is Emily and I like visiting Margam Country Park with my family.

-I'm Kirsten.

-I'm Georgia.

We love to visit this part of the park.

It's called Fairy Tale Land.

-We love the park, Mr Bloom.

-We know you'll love it too.

-Please come for a visit.

-ALL: Yay!

Sounds good to me. I'm on my way.

# Whereabouts will I end up next?

# Let's put my routefinder to the test

# It could be a beach, a village or a city

# Museum or a school A garden so pretty

# A church or a station A river or town

# I just can't wait till you show me around

# Tiddlers, I'm on my way

# So where am I today? #

Wow! It's impressive here, isn't it?

Ah, a signpost.

Now, I know the tiddlers are in Fairy Tale Land so that is that way.

All right. Let's go.

Hey, tiddlers! There you are! It's nice to see you.

It's Georgia, Emily and Kirsten. Hello.

ALL: Hello, Mr Bloom!

I've got to say, thanks for inviting me here today.

This is a great place. I've seen this giant old shoe.

-Who might be living in that old shoe?

-ALL: An old lady.

With so many children she doesn't know what to do?

-Yes.

-And who lives in this house?

-Snow White.

-With the dwarves?

-Yeah.

-Wowee!

-There's loads of little houses here.

-There's a big house too.

-Shall we show you?

-You bet your wellies you should!

-This way.

-Come on then. Let's go.

Well, when you said it was a big house

I didn't realise it was this big!

-Lady Emily Talbot used to live here.

-Ah. Is that so?

I tell you, she had a lovely house and some beautiful gardens as well.

-There's also a lake.

-Hey!

-Would you like us to show you?

-Yeah.

Do you think we might find some crocodiles?

ALL: No!

-Might we find jellyfish?

-ALL: No!

-What type of things might we find?

-Tadpoles?

-Tadpoles!

-Maybe some baby frogs.

-Toads.

-Maybe some toads.

-Fish?

-Fish, yeah!

-So where do we need to go?

-ALL: That way!

-Right. Let's go!

We're on our way to the Discovery Centre to meet Jo.

She's an expert on all the creatures we might find.

She's been doing a bit of pond dipping

to check what's living in the water.

She's found lots of insects

and Jo is going to lead us on an expedition

to find something a bit bigger.

Well, here we are. It's a nice pond.

-What do you think we might find living here?

-Toads.

-Tadpoles.

-Maybe toads. Where would the tadpoles be?

-Underwater.

What else might we find on the land? It starts life as a tadpole.

-A frog.

-A frog. And what's special about toads and frogs?

-They're amphibians.

-They are amphibians.

That means they can go in water and land.

Yeah, really clever. Today we'll stay on the land.

We won't search for them in the water.

-We're not amphibians, are we?

-No.

-Do we live in the water?

-No!

-Do we live on the land?

-Yes!

We've got frogs and toads.

There's something else that begins with N.

Do you know what I'm thinking of?

-Newt.

-That's right. Newts.

-Newts have little tails. Is that right, Joanna?

-They have.

They look like lizards but they have soft skin, like frogs and toads.

Right. We're off on an amphibian hunt.

-I see something!

-Me too! Me too! Me too!

-What is it?

-It's a spider. I love spiders.

Where do you think we should go next?

-The long grass.

-The long grass. All right.

Let's be careful as we go.

Remember, it's important to take care when walking near water.

Don't get too close to the edge.

We haven't done well on our amphibian hunt.

We haven't found any frogs, no toads, no newts.

It's quite sunny and they're probably hiding in the shade near the pond.

But luckily I was out earlier on and I found something.

-Would you like to see?

-Yes!

-Yes, please.

-Just over here.

Jo has been keeping them safe in the shade.

-Shall we see what I found earlier on then?

-Yes.

We've got...what's that?

-A baby frog.

-A baby frog.

He's tiny isn't he, tiddlers?

Yeah. How old is it?

Well, that was probably from this year,

so he was probably frogspawn in a pond at the start of the year.

-He may not even be one!

-No.

-He's a tiny frog.

-And how old are some frogs?

-They could get up to about six years old.

-How old are you, tiddlers?

-ALL: Six!

-Wow!

Just think, there are some frogs and toads that are the same age as you!

-What have we got here?

-A newt!

-A newt.

-It is a newt.

-And look, he's got a long tail, hasn't he?

And what do you think the last thing is that I've got in my bucket?

-A frog.

-We've got frogs.

-We've got frogs, we've got newts.

-What haven't we got?

-A big toad!

A toad! Let me wet my hands again.

Here he comes.

-Oh!

-Ah!

-So, it's a...

-Toad!

-Yeah.

-And he has beautiful golden eyes.

And you see the spots on his back?

Oo-ooh! He made a jump for it.

We need to be nice and quiet so we don't scare them.

Wow, look at that toad. He's a lot bigger than the frogs.

-Yeah.

-And how old might this toad be, Joanne?

-Oh!

-I have heard about toads living up to 40 years old!

-40 years old?!

-And they can get about that big.

-That big?

-Even bigger than that!

-BELL RINGS!

-Oh, hey-oop, it's the route finder.

Ah, and it's going to show us more

about the creatures that live by ponds and lakes.

These newts are called Great Crested Newts.

They like to come out at night and swim about looking for food.

Hey, look at his frilly back!

He looks like a tiny dragon.

Toads like the night-time, too.

These natterjack toads make fantastic sounds

-when they call to their friends.

-HE MAKES A WHIRRING HUM

They're quite rare, as their habitat -

that's where they live - is disappearing.

So it's important we look after them.

There aren't as many toads around as there used to be

because we've taken away some of their habitats

by building our houses.

How can we help the toads? Any ideas, tiddlers?

-We could make a house for them.

-A house?

What type of house could we make?

Would it be a house that you and I live in?

-No.

-A smaller house.

-Good idea.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-So maybe we could make a really small house for these toads.

-Yeah.

Ooh, I've got an idea. We could call it a toad abode

cos abode is another word for house.

So who's up for making a toad abode?

-ALL:

-Me!

So, Jo, what do we need to do?

So, to make our toad abodes, we need something for our toads to live in.

So we've got these very lovely gardening pots.

Just small, about 20cm across.

-And that's going to be the walls of the toad abode.

-Ooh!

-Do you think we should add anything? It's a bit bare.

-Yeah.

-What might toads like?

-Leaves.

-We could.

-Sticks.

-Sticks.

-Some soil?

-And soil would be a really good idea as well.

-Grass?

-And grass!

-Yeah, some grass.

-Who needs a flowerpot?

-Me.

-OK, there you go.

-Me!

-Here's one for you.

We're using brand-new pots

but you can use any old pot to make a toad abode.

-Hello, tiddlers!

-Hello.

-Hello, Mr Bloom.

We have to tear them up.

Scrunch them up and make a nice nest

for Mr Toad to bury himself in.

Hey, they're looking good to me!

You'd normally dig a little hole,

a little bowl shape in the ground,

and you could rest your pot in there so it doesn't roll around.

We can put them by a fence or a wall.

You could do. That would be a really nice, shady spot.

So somewhere by water and where it's nice and shady.

There we go, tiddlers, it's our Toad Abode Road!

We'll put them in place later.

Well, Georgia, Emily and Kirsten, have you had fun today?

-ALL:

-Yeah!

Oh, I'm glad cos I have had a top time.

So a big thank you for inviting me along.

And to you, Jo, cos we've seen some amazing things.

But the time's come, I've got to go.

So you join me soon, when I'll be...

-ALL:

-Here and there!

-That's right, tiddlers. Bye-bye!

-Bye!

-Bye, Mr Bloom!

-Bye!

# Where is it you like to go?

# Call me up and let me know

# What is it you like to do?

# I'll pop along and do it too

# Cities, towns, the countryside

# I can travel far and wide

# I'm all about and everywhere

# I'm here and there. #