Friday 5th March 2010, Peel Park Primary School

Submitted by joe_peate on Mon, 8th Mar 2010, 12:36pm
Working with Habitat Heroes, we made a start reclaiming part of the large area of waste ground behind the new school playground here at Peel Park Primary, with a view to eventually creating a wildlife habitat area that children can visit. A large stand of Japanses Knotweed was cleared around some steps uncovered by the group. We're in no doubt that it will be back with a vengence in the summer! We also cleared and uprooted brambles to help reduce overgrowth in summer, effectively making a start on a possible route for a nature walk.

Other members of the group assembled and installed a couple of large raised beds near the entrance to the school grounds, and some native trees/shrubs were also planted.

This was a varied day, at the start of what is a large undertaking to transform the site. It will be very interesting to see how this develops.

Finally, I think that I should mention the lovely lunch that the school laid on for us. It was a rare treat, and very much appreciated by all of us involved!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 8th Mar 2010, 4:10pm

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When we pointed out the Knotweed to the Sustainability Manager he did a bit of internet research and realised what a job they have got on their hands. Herbicide is the only option to remove it I think, and we encouraged the school to explore the cost of a contractor treating it for the next three years. There is plenty of space to develop and have lessons elsewhere in this site in the meantime. It is a lovely south facing bank - we thought it would be attractive to butterflies and suggest some caterpillar foodplants could be incorporated into the planting schemes.

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