School Garden

Hi Ellen,

I have tried to encourage birds to come to a feeding station in an area of woodland adjacent to our school nursery garden.  Sadly I have only really encouraged squirrels and the odd woodpigeon.  The squirrel proof feeders, are not very successful. I cannot feed peanuts as the woodland is within school grounds and we have a strict no nuts policy due to the possibility of severe nut allergies.  Actually it's quite hard to find bird seed mixes without nuts in.  The school have had quite a few nest boxes put up, and I think one or two have been occupied by tits.

We have had some success in making mini-beasts more observable; I put a couple of carpet squares down on to the bare soil, after a week or so, when we had a sneaky peak underneath, there was quite a lot to see, worms, millipedes, centipedes, woodlice and some very small white things that we still need to identify!!

At my previous school, we were lucky to have a pair of great tits in a nest box right beside the building, we built a temporary hide out of an old gazebo, cut holes in the fabric at child height so we could look through with our 'binoculars' (cut down kitchen roll tubes joined together with tape!)  The children made their own bird books, and junk model birds.

Good luck, I shall be interested in any advice that comes forward too!

Terrific, Ellen. To my mind, the next generation's knowledge and involvement  is one of the most important factors in conserving our wildlife.

Perhaps growing their own flowers (would have to be next year now, I suppose) to attract insects? Maybe see if there is a moth group near you ( local/county Butterfly Conservation group may know), and ask if they would trap overnight and let the children see the results next day? This is a group of insects we don't usually see, and they are fabulous!