Children dig in to help birds

This month schoolchildren across the country will take part in one of the biggest science projects of its kind to investigate how important the tiny animals that live under our feet are for many of the UK’S birds.

Organised by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), the What’s Under Your Feet? project will see school playing fields across the nation turned into living biology laboratories as more than 15,000 children dig up

1ft x1ft squares of soil and record every creature they find.

The experiment aims to provide the largest dataset of soil invertebrates anyone has seen. It is hoped this will help scientists better understand any role these animals play in the decline of UK birds. Dr James Pearce-higgins, director of science at the BTO, said the project will allow experts to identify densities of soil-living animals across the country.

Samantha Herbert