Biodiversity Project to Boost Insect Numbers launched – West Buckland School

15 May 2019

Pupils and staff at West Buckland School have founded the West Buckland Ecological and Biodiversity Society (WEBS) in order to improve the biodiversity across the school campus. Boosted by the design of a smart new logo, designed by Artist in Resident, Joseph Witchall, the group are starting by planting two wildflower meadows to provide food for pollinators such as bees and butterflies, as well as great green bush crickets!

The school’s stunning and rural 90-acre site is an ideal location for a wildflower meadow and the members of WEBS will be enlisting the help of students from across the whole school (from Nursery to Year 13) to grow the wild flowers from seed in their classrooms. The classes will be asked to grow yarrow, cowslip, betony and yellow rattle, and when the seedlings are ready, the children will help to plant them out as well as broadcasting more seed.

The aim is for the meadow to be flourishing by June 15th, when the school will be involved in a Bioblitz – recording the species present, to see how well they have done in attracting insects to the site. They will be joined by local wildlife expert, Mary Breeds, to provide guidance, and have hired a bat detector from Devon Greater Horseshoe bat project.

Instigator of the project, and Head of Biology, Noah Shawcross, cannot wait to get started. “This is such an exciting project and we’re delighted that the whole school can have an opportunity to get involved. We also thank the hard-working ground staff who have helped support us with this project.”