Rhyl school pupils have helped create a new haven for nature on their school grounds.
Denbighshire County Council’s Biodiversity team recently linked up with Christ the Word pupils to develop a new wildflower meadow at the school site.
The work follows recent development of hedgerow and woodland areas at the school with the support of pupils. 260 metres of hedgerow and 14 standard trees were planted to help increase biodiversity and the tree canopy at the school to support nature’s recovery and provide an educational wellbeing outdoor area for youngsters.
To create the new wildflower meadow pupils helped the Biodiversity team plant 200 wildflower plug plants grown by the Woodland Skills centre in Bodfari. Working with Year 10 pupils who had previously helped to plant the trees on the site, the Biodiversity team created a 200 square metre meadow at the back of the school
Ellie Wainwright, Biodiversity Officer, explained: “It was great to work alongside the Christ the Word pupils again, who have been so brilliant in helping us create valuable habitat on their school grounds to support their local biodiversity. Thanks to their help we managed to plant a variety of native local provenance wildflowers in their new meadow, including Red campion, Meadow buttercup, Knapweed, Cat’s-ear, Foxglove, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, and Autumn Hawkbit.”
The school’s new wildflower meadow will help increase support for nature’s pollinators as well as providing other benefits such as improved air quality, helping to reduce urban flooding, providing urban heat cooling, physical and mental wellbeing and areas of mixed interest for education and play.
Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We have lost nearly 97 percent of wildflower meadows across the UK since the 1930s so this fantastic help from the Christ the Word pupils is more than crucial for supporting local nature that has been impacted by this huge loss. As we see more wildflowers return to our urban areas they will help increase diversity and colour for everyone to enjoy and give stronger support for the pollinators at risk who play a vital role in putting food on our own tables.”
