PUPILS got involved in protecting wildflowers with an environmental community group.
Slaley, Hexhamshire and Healey Community Environmental Group (CEG) was formed in 2019 to reduce climate change.
The CEG secured Northumberland County Council Community Chest funding for a long-term project to protect verges by sharing how to identify wildflowers, conducting surveys at several locations in Slaley, Hexhamshire and Healey, and having protective verge signage installed at important times throughout the year.
The signs mean wildflowers will not be cut whilst in full bloom, but after they have seeded. This will be good for seed dispersal and saving carbon in terms of cutting.
The CEG organised a meeting at Whitley Chapel Parish Hall on May 13 to discuss why wildflowers and verges are important.
Schoolchildren were recruited to contribute to the project through the Forest School Initiative, which is a UK-wide child-centred learning process.
Slaley and Whitley Chapel First School students participated in the wildflower surveys.
More than 50 wildflowers were identified and recorded from the leaves as it is still early for many to be in flower, and there was a large variation of diversity between sites.
Headteacher of Whitley Chapel First School, Karen North, said: "The children in our school hugely enjoy their Forest School sessions and to be able to link their curiosity and enthusiasm about the natural world around them to a project like this is so important.
"Giving the children additional skills to be able to identify what is around them and how it may change over time has increased their connection to the local area and their awareness of what needs protection and why.
"Having requested to take ownership of the verge, they will now have a vested interest in being the custodians of the potential diversity for the future and will hopefully pass on the essential knowledge that they have gained from members of the local community to their friends and families, and then to their children and grandchildren."
The project was started early this year (2023) and will end in approximately July with ongoing monitoring of the verges over the next few years.
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