Wildflower meadow project set to bloom at The Perse

25 Nov 2020

A corner of The Perse Upper site is set to be transformed into an area of beauty and biodiversity thanks to the Ecology Society.

Founded by Sophie Mason (Upper Sixth) this term, the group aims to turn a small section of land behind the artificial pitches into a wildflower meadow with accompanying ‘bug hotel’ in time for next summer.

With the support of Perse grounds staff, Ecology Society members have been hard at work over the last few weeks preparing the bed ready for planting to take place in the spring.

Sophie explained she had been inspired to set up the club after researching the decline of wildflowers in the UK and how wildflower meadows can boost crop pollination for her Rouse Awards project.

She added: “I was appointed as a societies prefect this year, but due to Covid, I wasn’t able to continue helping the Lower School Biology Club, so I decided I’d set up a new group, involving mainly Sixth Form students, and everyone has enjoyed it.

“Covid has made things a little bit more difficult, but we’ve had some Lower Sixth take part on different days to the Upper Sixth and next term we are hopefully going to have other year groups involved with the bug hotel.”

The patch will eventually feature a variety of colourful flowers, including scabious, foxgloves, bluebells and vetches, while the ‘bug hotel’ will be made using stacked pallets filled with materials such as rotting wood, bamboo canes, pine cones and broken pottery to provide a home for different types of insects.

Sophie added that she hopes the Sixth Form BioSoc will carry out an annual biodiversity survey so the site’s flora and fauna can be monitored in future years.

She said: “It should improve every year. It’s going from just plain grass to what will hopefully be a really lovely area for the school in future years.”