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Keep Scotland Beautiful's Spring Clean campaign is always a time to mobilise volunteers on the National Cycle Network - the vegetation is yet to go wild, the weather is improving and people are coming out of any winter hibernation. We have about 10 litterpicks happening for Spring Clean this year, in Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire, and are collecting a phenomenal amount of rubbish from the routes and removing it from the habitats of the wildlife that lives there. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered at any of them.

So, I’ve reached the end of my Explorer Award finally. 64-ish hours of discovering, exploring, conserving and sharing the birds of the National Cycle Network routes in Edinburgh and Ayrshire. I started it in December 2019 and it’s been a rocky time since – my Award has been a place to escape to and a joy to get back to during that time. I also started stitching in 2020 and learnt more about craftivism– crafting to raise awareness of issues. This seems the perfect last share for my Award. In 1938, John Muir wrote ‘Nature is always lovely, invincible, glad, whatever is done and suffered by her creatures. All scars she heals, whether in rocks or water or sky or hearts.’ I don’t think we can say that’s still the case. In February, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a report looking at the causes and impacts of climate change, and potential solutions. The BBC reported the conclusion that ‘extreme weather events linked to climate change like floods and heatwaves are hitting humans and other species much harder than previous assessments indicated’. Rising temperatures are also changing nesting dates, food availability and migration patterns of birds - the latest review of the UK Red List of birds was published in December 2021 and lists 70 of our 245 species as under threat. That’s 1 in 4. Hopefully these 30 little birds that I have stitched and put out on the National Cycle Network can carry the message to people that we can all help by acting now – altering the way we travel, looking after greenspace and the wildlife in it, and raising awareness. It’s now or never. Thanks, John Muir Award, for a really enjoyable 2.5 years.

The children have completed several litter picks across the year. They encouraged others to join in and showed the little ones how to use the litterpickers! During the February litter pick, the children sorted their rubbish into categories and carried out a survey about the types of litter that they found. They were shocked at how much could have been recycled and created some posters which they placed around the school to remind people to bin their rubbish. As the year has progressed, they have expanded the litter picks from the school grounds to the surrounding area and local river.

The children have been delighted to learn that there is so much biodiversity in their own area. They discovered pondsnails and other insects in the local river, blackberries growing wild, which they cleaned and tasted. And had a lot of fun finding conkers, investigating what they really were and then cleaning them up and playing traditional games with them.

These photos show an update of the bulbs that the children planted before Christmas, that are now beginning to grow. They have planted some new vegetable crops in the hope that some will be able to be harvested and cooked before the end of term.

In January we participated in the RSPB big bird count. The pupils created bird feeder which they placed around the school ground a week prior to the count to encourage birds to visit the playground. They were amazed at the amount and variety of birds they saw on the day of their count and were able to identify some of them from the official classification guide. We currently have a seagull couple nesting on our roof which can be seen from, the classroom window. The dad keeps watch and searches for food. From what we can see they have 3 eggs. We can't wait until their chicks hatch!

Today was a bit of a landmark day for the GKC Groups that have been working with the Pollok Countryside Rangers led by Allison Greig. We started our day at the Poly Tunnel where we checked and watered the young wild flower seedlings as they continued to develop in their seeed trays. We worked with Countryside Ranger Gavin as we filled numerous watering cans and tended to the young plants. With the help of Gavin we then selected some of the more mature plants and made our way using Gavins Map and Directions to the Hillside Wildflower Meadow where our work would begin.....