Although there are signs that spring is on the way, there are still far fewer insects than earlier in the year. The Biodiversity lesson at kids bushcamp requires them to catch and identify as many insects as possible in an area. Even before the fire this was going to be difficult at this time of year, so an alternative lesson was required, but one which would still demonstrate biodiversity.

After some head-scratching, and staring at the sky and ground, one of the guys had a flash of inspiration, and so a new lesson was devised. In summary, different type of dung would be located by the children, examined and collected.

How I didn't laugh out loud when the lesson leader had 8 children all eagerly and proudly thrusting vast amounts of dung under his nose I don't know!

Mind you, my sense of humour was tested on the last day of camp when I found myself out at the waterhole gathering scat (dung) in the pouring rain - and covered in the resulting mud. The kids would have been drenched and soaked if we had let them do the gathering too - and so instead only I was in that state, and with handfuls of animal dung as my gathered treasure! Yet another moment for me to wonder about my sanity.