Feeding birds + weeding and pruning plus nursery children searching for aliens in the wildlife area!…..

Thursday October 19th 2017

At school just after 8.15am I began work by re filling all the bird feeders in and around our school wildlife area project site…

Around 9am Rose arrived to help …we gathered tools etc and set off to prune back more of the buddleijas—Rose working on the top path not far from the shed whilst I was on the lower path near the outdoor classroom benches…

We were soon visited by the nursery children and staff who were having a great time searching for aliens ie as a finale to their alien storybook project!

Rose and I had our coffee break around 10.45 am then returned to our pruning task plus I also pulled out more nettles and other weeds on the area with the walnut tree…

More visitors arrived …Mr Ball was showing around a group of teachers visiting the school to find out more about outdoor learning activities at TCS Mill Lane ie forest schools + fruit & veg growing plus our wildlife area etc

Later as we were leaving the wildlife area at noon  another class of children  came down to explore the school wildlife area…

NB Lots of lovely signs of Autumn for both children and adults to see …colourful leaves and berries everywhere

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Hurricane winds forecasted!

Monday October 16th 2017

Decided to cancel our work session this morning due to H&S concerns as hurricane winds forecasted ie we have a lots of trees in and around our school wildlife area!

Feeding birds + more pruning and planting

Thursday October 12th 2017

Rose arrived at school in time to help me with re filling all the bird feeders in and around our main project site ie the school wildlife area..

Our next job was taking tools etc round to the front of school where we did more work on the perennial flower beds…

Rose planted 30 wallflower plants I’d bought whilst I pulled out many more of the self sown field maple tree seedlings..

We also both finished pruning back the escallonia on one of the beds which resulted in another  wheelbarrow load of garden waste being added to the compost bins in the copse by the pond!

After our coffee break we had time to prune back more of the buddleijas in the wildlife area before packing away out tools and heading for home..

Wildlife seen this morning included speckled wood butterflies , magpies ,wood pigeons, robins and several grey squirrels…

Feeding birds,spreading leaves & tree chippings etc

Monday October 9th 2017

Both Colin & I had arrived at school by 8.30am -we began work by re filling all the bird feeders around the school wildlife area..

Mark the caretaker has donated several bags of leaves swept up from the playground and car park-was going to add them to compost bins but decided to toss them on ground in copse by wildlife pond …

Next job was sweeping up the rest of the tree chippings by the mini bus -3 wheelbarrow loads now spread around 5 of the fruit trees on the grassy slope by the playground…

After a coffee break and catch up we added the fruit tree prunings from last week to the woodpile ,locked away our tools etc  and headed early for home as the weather a bit drizzly and overcast!

Work session cancelled…

Thursday October 5th October 2017

Alas work session cancelled by 8.30am due to my arm scalding incident  with hot coffee ie as accidentally not fastened flask lid on correctly!

Feeding birds,moving tree chippings onto pathways,pruning fruit trees,chopping up windfall apples for bird food etc

Monday October 2nd 2017

At school for 8.30 am -refilled just the bird feeders by the classrooms and shed then Chris arrived to help….

Off next with wheelbarrows, shovels and  garden bags to the pile of tree chippings (donated by Teign Trees) alas these had been dropped in a different place than usual so we had further to push our wheelbarrows!

Nevertheless we managed to move almost all of the huge pile of chippings which have now been spread on some of the pathway in the far copse..

Chris brought his long handled tree loppers so we were able to prune back some of the fruit trees in the school wildlife area..

The nursery class staff and children picked some of the ripe apples and pears off the trees on the grassy slope by the playground and I collected some windfall apples underneath the trees -have now chopped the apples up for feeding the birds in he wildlife area

As we were leaving at 12 noon a teacher brought a class of children into the wildlife area to so some work  on  the outdoor classroom seating near the pond

 

Teignmouth in Bloom 2nd prize plus feeding birds and Autumn pruning etc

Thursday September 28th 2017 

Arrived school around 8.15am – I began by  taking the Teignmouth in Bloom certificate and voucher prize to Mrs Webber for the 2 nursery rhyme displays  she and Mrs Frost did with the nursery children in the summer term …

Next job was re filling all bird feeders in and around the school wildlife area-saw blackbirds, robins and grey squirrels all searching for food either on feeders or ground!

Rose arrived to help me so after collecting a few pieces of PE equipment which had been thrown over the fence from the playground-we gathered tools etc together and set off to work on  the planted beds at the front of school..

Lots of Autumn pruning and weeding to be done on the beds and flower pots – we made a start by pruning some of the escallonia hedge = 2 large bags of prunings added to the compost bins in the car park..

By 10.30am we were back in the wildlife area for our coffee break and catch up…

For our final job we started to prune back some of the buddleijas near our storage shed..

NB we have primroses in bloom near the shed and polyanthus flowering at the front of school..