By Wendy Davis | Trustee & Project Leader
Hello and welcome to our end-of-winter update,.where you can read about some of the many things that your support has helped to make possible.
School Tree Nursery Beds
Prior to the pandemic, most of the schools we work with were maintaining their tree nursery beds, built with our help in 2011. To increase a sense of ownership of the trees that the children plant, we have encouraged schools to plant and look after trees, provided by the charity, before digging them up and gifting them to the community in November, when 1000 children come together for three weeks of mass tree planting.
The pandemic made it impossible for us to continue this tradition but, thanks in part to your donations via GlobalGiving, we are delighted to have been able to support renewed planting in ten of the nursery beds.
Regular Conservation Days
Mondays and Saturdays
Opportunities to look after the community wood that the children planted are available every Monday and once a month on the second Saturday.
Over the past three months, volunteers of all ages planted an avenue of Lime trees along 300 metres of one of the main grass rides. The avenue of trees will in time shape the ride to prevent it from becoming a wind tunnel as well as narrowing it in places to allow for easier wildlife crossing. The Dragon Garden, begun last summer, has been enhanced by the addition of several hundred metres of native hedgerow and the walkways sown with grass and wildflower seed.
Business Workplace Volunteering
We also welcome workplace volunteers from businesses in the local area and further afield.
The DIO (Defence Infrastructure Organisation, part of the MOD) came to Harmony Woods for a volunteering day on the 7th February. They helped to clear, tidy and mulch the bottom hedgerow planted in winter 2022-23. They managed to completely clear the hedgerow of unwanted vegetation and then mulch half of it.
Here’s what Paul had to say: “Thank you for looking after us yesterday. We had a great time helping to tidy up and mulch the recently planted hedgerows. Being able to provide you with a little bit of assistance to support your vital conservation work is great for us in Defence as we look to help out in our local communities. Moreover, raising awareness of the challenges we all face is so important and the enthusiasm shown by your team is definitely aiding that.”
Thank you, Laura and welcome, Katie, our 2024 Ecology Intern
As the winter ends, we bid farewell to our 2023 Ecology Intern, Laura, and thank her for all her hard work. You can read the results of her internship in the link to her Nature in Harmony 2023 Report. below. At the same time we are pleased to welcome our 2024 Intern, Katie. There is a link to Laura's interview with Katie below.
Keeping children connected to nature - even in winter
Continuing the series of popular - with children, parents and grandparents alike - Nature Explorer Activities, Nature and Community Officer Jo, supported by Issy, Matt and Natalia led children on winter walks and 'Bear Hunts' during the February school half-term break. You can follow their exploits via the link below.
We hope you have enjoyed finding out about what your generous donations have helped to achieve over the colder and wetter winter months and look forward to sharing stories of spring awakenings and warmer days when next we report.
Links:
By Wendy Davis | Trustee & Project Leader
By Laura Morrell & Wendy Davis | Intern & Trustee
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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