Biodiversity Outreach

 A month or so ago my friend Yolande rang me up and asked if I'd accompany her to the State primary school to give a talk to the CM2 pupils (10-11 year olds) about what was special about the little park at the end of our street. Yolande is a Preuilly municipal council member and her area of responsibility is education. I've been indoctrinating her for years about what a marvellous little biodiversity reserve the park and the adjacent nature strip and grounds of the public library are. She's listened and taken on board my suggestions, so these areas are not scalped by the council works mowers quite so often, and wild orchids, fungi and uncommon ground nesting hymenoptera abound.

 

Me talking to the kids.

So we hatched a plan for Yolande to talk about the cultural heritage in the park ie it was a medieval cemetery, with a newly restored late 15th century chapel of ease on the site, containing very important wall paintings. Then I talked about all the species which inhabit the park. The kids want to create a project to improve the park and we wanted to steer them away from turning it into a playground and focus more on it being a peaceful haven for people and wildlife.

I think the kids received the message. They are very keen to hang wind chimes, put up bird nest boxes, maybe an insect hotel, and to create info boards. Yolande and I are less keen on the wind chime idea, and they've been firmly told that they have to be made from natural materials, not plastic... We are OK with nest boxes, and I think Yolande and I like the idea of an insect hotel more than the kids do. Although several kids reported that they have a bee hotel at home in their garden, with occupants, so that's good. 

The one thing we all agreed on was doing info boards. I've been wanting to do one for several years and it is a perfect project for kids. They can take all the photos, do the layout and artwork, and contribute to the text. I look forward to where this will all go. We are planning to have a 'field trip' later in the year, when I can show them orchids and bees in real life, rather than just photos.