Eco Committee's Pollinators' Garden takes shape

This Term, The Eco Committee’s student-led project to make more nature friendly sites at school has begun!  

The Pollinators’ garden, beside the CCF office, is being planted with help from the Third Form BASE programme on Thursday afternoons. This is a garden that is planted predominantly with a wide range of native flowers that provide nectar or pollen for many species of pollinating insects. These include bumblebees; solitary bees; wasps; hover flies and other flies; moths and butterflies and some beetles. 

The aim of the new garden is to provide a food source to attract these pollinators to the site whilst also providing nectar for the Beekeeping Society's colonies as these have been struggling due to the lack of flowers on site. 

Planting the pollinators' garden is more important than you think. Even though it is a small garden, it can make a huge difference to the environment as pollinators in the UK have recently suffered from loss of habitat (wildflower meadows) to farming monoculture. The use of chemicals and spread of invasive plant and animal species have also been causing a decline in our local pollinators. Some of them may go extinct or be endangered. It also increases biodiversity too. 

Another benefit from this pollinators’ garden is to liven up the unused space. We are planning to plant beautiful wildflowers around the trees, these plants are being grown from seed in the Biology’s greenhouse.   

Most recently we have planted 13 silver birch trees, a tree for each boarding house, which will look good when the trees grow.  

The Eco Committee is hoping they can secure funding for 7 benches in the garden, so that pupils and members of our community can sit and relax or reading a book there with a beautiful view. 

Ki-Din B (S, LVI), Jai H (Ch, LVI) from the Wilding Working Party, led by Ella H (MSH, UVI)