To nurture the new Food Forest Garden at Old Witney Road Play Area and encourage biodiversity, students from Eynsham Community Primary School have created habitats for insects and birds.
The project, overseen by Will Reeves, was led by the school council and designed to help the children nurture the new site. The students voted on what they wanted to create, deciding to focus on bug hotels or bird houses that would provide habitats for creatures in the Food Forest Garden. Funds for materials were raised via various events, including a non-uniform day.
The students visited the site to get an idea of what sort of dwellings would be best suited before building and painting them at school. In the summer term, the students returned to the site to place their bug hotels and bird houses ‘in situ’, where walkers will now be able to spot them.
It is hoped that these new bug hotels and bird houses will encourage and support the insect and bird life, allowing biodiversity to flourish in an area where the newly planted trees and shrubs are taking root.
Will said of the project: “As a community school, we involve the community as much as possible with the students’ learning. Getting the children out into the Food Forest Garden is a brilliant initiative in which the Parish Council and school work collaboratively – and the children benefit hugely from. As the years go by, our children will be able to return to the area and see how their hard work has improved the area they live in."
Our Cllr Milly Chen, who has helped develop the site and was involved in the planting days, visited the Food Forest Garden over the summer to take photos of the new bug hotels and bird houses (these can be viewed below).
Milly was impressed with the students’ creations. She said, “they clearly have put a lot of effort and creativity into making them and every single one of the bug hotels is different. Each one is a piece of art! I hope all the guests – bees, butterflies and many more – will have a very pleasant stay!”
Eynsham Parish Council, which gave permission for the primary school to take ownership of the area to create a Food Forest Garden, is delighted to see the progress and the promise for the future. We hope the students continue to enjoy visiting and observing how the area, the plants and the wildlife blossom over the months and years ahead.
Our residents can enjoy looking at the various (and very attractive) bug hotels on the slideshow below or visit them at the Food Forest Garden in Eynsham ‘live’ to see whether any new residents have moved in.