Feed

We were planting beautiful plants in the community garden on Friday. My hands got very dirty and muddy. Had to plant potatoes too.

Over the last few weeks we have been in the community garden. On the first week we planted wildflowers on the banks around the garden. On the second week we filled up the bug hotel and added succulents to the roof. We also weeded some of the beds. On the third week we made a wildlife pond, planted Alderman Peas and made a pollinator bed. This week we prepared beds, made pea supports and made a herb garden. Grace🪴🌺🌷🫛🌼🌳🌿🍀

Our friend Les of The Friends of Saltwells Nature Reserve, very kindly made our group a miniature version of The Great Wall of Saltwells, the log wall habitat we helped to build for the amphibian, reptile and insect species of Saltwells. We love it. A big thank you to Les. The model is now pride of place in our classroom. There are a few new residents in the real log wall including a solitary Red Mason Bee. She is busy lining a cell with mud and pollen. The cells/ holes were made by drilling holes into the logs. Back at college we have started to build our very own log wall habitat in the Aspire Garden.

Students have started work on footpath maintenance near the beautiful wet meadows of Doultons Claypit. The group worked hard loading the wardens pick up truck with gravel then barrowing it along the footpaths to be raked level. Well done to all the students and thank you to Tom for involving us in such a rewarding task.

JMA participants have helped the wardens with planning an example of a wildlife friendly garden and carried out ground work for a tree nursery. The group worked together to mark out areas for both projects and dug out turf where raised beds will be built.

Over the last month our JMA participants have been extremely busy working towards their Explorers Award and college qualification. We have practiced our tree and woodland plant identification skills using The Woodland Trusts tick sheets and IDials. On the 28 April, our group joined in helping the wardens with their Bioblitz for the City Nature Challenge 2023. We installed the iNaturalist app on our mobile phones to help us find, identify and record as many plant and animal species as possible. Well done to our students. This was a very challenging activity but you all put in great effort. Thank you to Emma and Tom for involving us in your Bio-blitz of Saltwells.