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We had great fun in the eco-garden at Saltwells National Nature Reserve this week, creating a log wall habitat for wildlife. It is hoped the shelter provided by the dead wood habitat will encourage amphibians, reptiles, and insects into the newly developed area. On Tuesday our first group of JMA participants lifted turf to make a recess to hold the base layer of the log wall. It was heavy work, and we are all much fitter for lifting, barrowing, sawing and tamping logs. On Friday, the second JMA group focused on building up layers of logs. Getting the irregular shaped logs to fit was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together and not dissimilar to building a dry-stone wall. After all the strenuous work, adding the coping of turf, clay soil and moss was very therapeutic. A big thank you to Tom, Assistant Senior Warden at Saltwells NNR for involving our groups in such valuable activity for wildlife and that was also very rewarding for our students. We can’t wait for next week when we are going to build the second section of the wall. In the near future the students would like to share their work with friends and families by showing them around the eco-garden.

More photographs of our log wall habitat project.

This will see the group in Kinordy Estate for the next few Tuesday's, we are establishing a hedge that will eventually replace the old and unfriendly barbed wire fence. It is a lot of work as the turf has to be cut then the trees planted. There is always time for a cup of hot chocolate and a chance to explore the remnants of Arwen. Glen found four beetle grubs so we named them, John, Paul, Ringo and George. The trees that were planted last year have shot up and will need protecting from the passing deer, just another job for the hard working group.

P6/7 spent the morning walking around their local village picking up litter using litter pickers. It was amazing to see how much litter there was in our small village. Litter ranged from small items such as cigarette butts to large items such as sandals. The vast majority of litter though was cigarette butts. The children made a tally chart of everything they collected and are going to input this data into a spreadsheet to create a variety of charts.

The P7 class spent 3 days on residential at PGL Dalguise near Dunkeld. They had great fun exploring the local ground and trying out new activities such as the giant swing and trapeze. They also learned lots of practical skills such as orienteering and using their senses to get around when blindfolded. Overall they had a great time and learned lots of outdoor skills that will help them in the future.

Last day at the loch rowing today. The two groups participated in sprint races, and were set photography tasks. The group were a bit subdued today, maybe the 2 weeks cancellation due to weather knocked them a little? Next week we are returning to Kinghorn to go exploring the hills behind the loch to see the abandoned villages and to find out more about the area. The photos taken today will be shared with colleagues as a photography competition for the participants.

Today was all about putting our plans into action as we worked with Countryside Rangers Linzi and Fiona in the Polytunnel at Pollok. It was great to see everyone working as a team and learning new skills that they could take with them throughout their lives! Mixing Loam and Compost, Selecting the correct size pots for the job we sowed a variety of seeds starting with a Wild Flower Mix...

We sowed Poppy Seeds and complimented these with some Fox Gloves that will grow tall and proud in the grounds of Pollok for years to come. Linzi and Fiona taught us the importance of organisation in a busy Poly Tunnel and with the help of our amazing support we labelled each of our trays full of young future seedlings! We spoke about the importance of learning in active ways, meeting new people, working as a team and more while all the time marveling at the impact our small project will have on our environment!