Marches school taking part in 'tree-riffic' event

Both today and tomorrow, 9 and 10 November, The Marches School are holding a ‘tree planting’ event (organised by Dr Renwick) to increase biodiversity on the Marches site and increase the storage of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas that causes climate change).

Miss Price, joint organiser of Eco-club and of the tree planting day said, “This is important because, according to reports last week: global wildlife populations have declined by 69% since 1970 (WWF Living Planet Report 2022) and if we do not step up our efforts, the world will warm by 2.8^oC this century, leading to dangerous climate change (United Nations Environment Programme, 2022). As well as planting the trees themselves, students will also get an opportunity to learn about carbon sequestration and biodiversity, which will support their learning of geography and science.

“As part of their community tree scheme, in conjunction with DEFRA’s Trees outside wood’s project, Shropshire Council have donated 210 hedgerow saplings. 420 large wild harvest saplings have also been given by the Woodland Trust to be planted at various sites around the Marches School, filling gaps in rows of trees between sports fields, filling in hedges around the site and also creating a new double layer hedge.

“We also worked in partnership with Oswestry Town Council who donated trees as part of their ambitions to plant 17,000 trees (1 for each resident). Thank you to our Mayor, Councillor Jay Moore, who came to help dig and plant trees, and also to Graham Mitchell from Oswestry Life Magazine for coming to photograph our event.

“Many thanks go to Shropshire Wildlife Trust and Oswestry community for donating lots of spades and gloves to enable us to actually plant the trees!

“As a trust, we have made a promise to develop our strategy towards creating and maintaining a sustainable future and have said that we will have a school estate that minimizes the environmental impact. So, by planting 630 new saplings we are increasing the storage of carbon dioxide in our school estate and therefore making a positive step towards ‘stepping up our efforts’ to reduce climate change.

“Members from our Eco-club recently did some work in preparation for the big tree planting event! They measured the carbon content of some of the trees in our eco-garden and investigated how the new trees planted will provide habitats and food for the biodiversity it will support.

“Below are some photos of EcoClub in action measuring carbon sequestration and their summary of the tree species we will be planting and the biodiversity it supports.”

Tree species	Biodiversity that it supports
Crab apple	Caterpillars, moths, bees, blackbirds, thrushes, crows, mice, voles, foxes and badgers.
Dog rose	Dog rose flowers provide nectar for blackbirds, redwings and waxwings.
Dogwood	Leaves are eaten by caterpillars, moths. Berries are eaten by mammals and birds.
Elder	Flowers provide nectar for caterpillars. Berries eaten by dormice, bank voles.
Hazel	Hazel dormouse, woodpeckers, nuthatches, jays, red squirrel, woodmouse & bank vole.
Rowan	Leaves, flowers and berries feed caterpillars, moths, bees, blackbird, thrushes, redstart and redwing.
Wild cherry	A wide variety of birds and insects benefit from the cherries and spring blossom nectar.
Hawthorn	Supports more than 300 insects, caterpillars, moths, migrating birds such as redwings, fieldfares, thrushes and provides fantastic nesting shelter for many bird species.
Blackthorn	Provides fantastic habitat for birds and mammals. Sloe berries provide food for caterpillars and honeybees benefit from white blossom.

Miss Price added “Our tree planting event is an amazing opportunity for our students to be hands-on amongst nature knowing they are actively doing their bit to help combatting effects of climate change. We are so lucky to have been donated so many trees and to work with some wonderful local businesses which strengthens our links within the community. I am super excited about this wonderful event!!”