PUPILS at a Bradford primary school were visited by a wildlife legend who inspired them to transform into mini explorers for the day.

Chris Packham, presenter of Springwatch and formally of the Really Wild Show, paid a visit to Lady Royd Primary School in Girlington yesterday, helping children build bird boxes and teaching them about the wide variety of flora and fauna that can be found in Britain, even in inner city areas like Bradford.

The naturalist had flown to the city specifically to visit Year 4 pupils after one of the pupils, Maariyah Tolker, 9, won a national poetry competition for her poem about rainforests. The competition was organised by toy giant Lego, and as well as winning a haul of playsets, Maariyah also nabbed a visit from the presenter for the day.

The visit was perfect timing for the pupils, as they had been learning about nature and wildlife in their science lessons even before they knew of the visit by the famous face.

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Mr Packham held a question and answer session with the children before taking them out to a wooded area to the rear of the school, to look for local wildlife. During the session, he helped them get excited by everyday creatures such as slugs, beetles and a bee.

After lunch he helped the pupils craft bird boxes to attract even more nature to the school grounds.

When asked why she thought her poem had won, Maariyah said: "I think it was because it helped inspire people about nature. Today he (Mr Packham) has been talking about wolves and how they used to live in the wild in England."

Science teacher Candice Bell said: "This will really inspire the children. We have been learning about habitats and this fits in beautifully."

Mr Packham, who has presented wildlife shows since the late 1980s and has had several nature books published, taught children about animals such as the white tailed bumble bee while they were exploring the schools grounds, which are shared with Bradford Girls's Grammar School. Although some children were initially scared of the bee, the expert soon had children holding in on their finger, and explained the motivations of what could cause a bee to sting.

He said: "Children have an innate curiosity for living things and it is great when they get the chance to exercise that curiosity and come out and explore.

"You see when children are worried about things like a bumble bee, maybe they aren't getting enough time outside in nature. There are lots of things to discover.

"They are lucky at this school, as it has a lot of great spaces and trees on its grounds."