Charlotte Barrington of William Davis Primary School writes:
The Tower Habitats biodiversity grant we received from the Tower Hill Trust has been used to pay for the following developments so far:
- The clearance and development of two key sites within the outdoor area to create a bee and butterfly garden and an insect investigation area.
- Creation of a bird watching station.
The ground was cleared, which was a big job, as the photo (left) of the Bee Garden area before we started shows! Despite our best efforts, we ended up paying for someone to help us complete this in the end. We purchased some new soil and fertiliser. We worked with the children and parents to research bee and butterfly friendly plants, and they then planted a selection of plants and bulbs. The garden is not yet fully established (see header photo), but is being cared for by the children and parents and we hope we will see lots of bees and butterflies this summer!
We cleared another redundant area of the playground (photo left) and covered it in bark chippings. We have started to collect logs and are expecting a delivery of more in the next few weeks to add to our log pile. We have ordered some insect hotels and are going to purchase materials to make some of our own with a group of parents. It now looks like the photo below.
The children are really enjoying the new bird station (see photo below) and enjoying filling the feeders each week. We are keeping a record of all the different birds that visit us.