FOUR schools in Warrington have had the fascinating opportunity to monitor the wildlife that scours their school grounds at night in a new project delivered by Cheshire Wildlife Trust.
The organisation fitted nocturnal wildlife cameras into the grounds of the selected primary schools with the hope of capturing footage of night visitors to show and educate pupils and the results were not disappointing.
Project Nocturnal Wildlife has so far been trialled at St Barnabas Primary School, Evelyn Street Primary School, and Latchford St James’ Primary School and will also be delivered to the pupils of Cobbs Infant school.
Stacey Fox, project manager for childhood engagement at the Trust said: “Across the three schools we found hedgehogs at two sites, Evelyn Street and St Barnabas and we found foxes at two sites, Evelyn Street and Latchford St James.”
The spot of two hedgehogs was a highlight for the Trust, who made emphasis on the rapid decline in recent years of the species.
Stacey said: “Cheshire Wildlife Trust were particularly delighted to record hedgehogs at two of the school sites.
“The number of hedgehogs is in long term decline with three surveys showing a loss of hedgehogs in rural areas nationally of between a third and three-quarters of the population in the last two decades.”
The project also involved interactive sessions with the children where they were able to learn about hidden wildlife within the town.
“Over the two sessions, children learnt about local nocturnal wildlife, including their diets, habits, and how to help them.
“The sessions have reached over 100 children so far across the three schools.”
A teacher at Evelyn Street Primary in Sankey Bridges provided positive feedback on the new project, highlighting how engaged the students were during the sessions and practical workshops.
They said: “The children enjoyed the entire workshop, however most children mentioned that dissecting the pellets was a particular highlight.
“As a teacher, I was particularly impressed with the quality of the teaching from the staff and the ability to keep even the trickiest of children engaged and motivated throughout.
After siting hedgehogs at two of the schools, the pupils were then taught how to look after the vulnerable animals if they were ever to come across one in their garden.
“Pupils in all schools were told to leave out water for hedgehogs, make sure their outside spaces had access, and to leave some wild areas in gardens of their own or those of friends and family.”
Cheshire Wildlife Trust, funded by people’s postcode lottery, have recently carried out various projects in schools within the community with an aim to draw young children to the outdoors.
Stacey said the Trust hope the sessions will give children ‘a greater awareness of the wildlife around them, a respect for creatures, and some knowledge of how to help them’.
For further information on how to look after hedgehogs you can visit this website https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/what-do-if-you-find-wild-animal/help-hedgehog or https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/ for advice.
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