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Wildlife Garden

April 2008

Less than 5% of this country is classified as urban but built-up areas like that surrounding GCA are vital for the survival of native wildlife and you can find a enormous variety of animals and plants if you know what signs to look for. This year we’ve created a wildlife garden from a strip of overgrown land at the edge of the school. It's quite small – about 650 sq metres – but we still hope it can become a stepping stone for species migrating through the country. We’ve established a pond and done some basic landscaping so that we can move around the area easily without destroying native species and to help create different habitats – boggy and dry, shaded and sunny, as well as some overgrown areas and woodpiles to provide protection for small animals. But we kept things simple to start with and resisted the temptation to plant too much. We put in a few willows to attract insects, spread some meadow seed and planted a few pond plants such as oxygenators and water lilies. Then we waited to see what nature would bring us. Here you can see some of the plants that have established as well as the work of 7RG who planted the pond. Thanks to:

Patryk, Victoria, Chinedu, Daniela, Durali, Charles, Jayson, Emre Can, Celine, Onur, Hakki, Oskar, Muhbul, Marvin, Fidel, Faustina, Jake, Callum, Sarah-Anne, Daniela.

Special thanks to Charles who you can see working on his woodcarving for the garden.

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