For a while now we have been wondering where the peanuts have been going. Now we have the proof. This cheeky grey squirrel has been plundering the bird feeder and the bins(!) for their contents. I’m glad to say that it has not put off the birds who are now regulars of the bird feeders.

Today we have had the most amazing heavy rain and it was a really good chance to see how the Sustainable Urban drainage System coped with the downpour. Although I did not venture out during the rain the whole of 6U came with me to have a look 20 minutes later. We found that the swales (ditches) coped easily and that the pond simply swallowed up the extra water and helped clear some of the algae that has been forming in the pond out of the way. Though the algae is now partly blocking the outfall and we will need to keep an eye on this. It was impressive though to see just how much water can be absorbed by this system when all the traditional drains were struggling.

After placing bird and bat boxes around the grounds we have now put a range of individually designed and built bug boxes around the grounds and allotment. Many thanks to all the pupils who have either built or helped place these boxes we look forward to seing all the insects that will make them their home.

After all the exciting new projects of the past three (and more) years we are now settling into the routine of looking after the projects. We spent last Eco Club catching up on those little jobs like filling the bird feeders and checking the wildflower meadow. Next week we will be weeding the tree nursery. While none of these jobs are exciting they are all needed to keep the projects going and bring with them their own satisfaction of a job well done. Well thats what we keep telling each other! We will be having an Eco action Team meeting soon where we will think up some more exciting projects…

Its been a bad (or is that good?) year for catepillars in the allotment this year, we came across this sad example in gardening club the other day. I think we will be netting our cabbages next year!

Ok so we are not doing so well at updating the blog. Ican only say in our defence that this is due to things being so busy in Eco Club. First many thanks to our new Eco Action Team who had their first meeting in April. We had a new round of elections and now have a fresh team (with some familiar faces as well) to take us forwards to next years Green Flag reapplication. You can read the minutes of the last meeting by clicking on the link on the Action Team page. Inside the building recycling and composting continues well though we have let to make significant progress on the saving power target. Outside in the allotment things progress as indeed they do throughout the grounds. Many thanks goes to the pupils who have spent time going around the grounds taking photos of the wild and semi wild plant life that has begun to take hold in the various habitats we have created throughout the school grounds. We now need to name all the various species, if you recognise any of the plants featured below please add a comment telling us as we need to know!

Too long has passed again without updating the blog. We have been really busy this month with eco club finishing off the last few things on our action plan. This month has seen the appointment of our new Eco Action Team who will meet next week to begin work on the new Eco Action Plan. This will give us a new set of objectives to aim towards.

March has so far seen the Bird and Bat boxes finally installed in trees around our grounds. We were joined that day by our local tree wardens who did the climbing and dangerous bits for us, many thanks to them. In the allotment things have started to grow with broad beans springing up and the garlic coming on well. We now have lots of things planted ready for the warmth of Spring to arrive! The pond has also seen a good clear out thanks to our pond expert Greg Thurlow, many thanks to him as he has now removed the green algae that has built up due to the messing about with the swale system that feeds it by the school developers. Yellow Flag (iris) has now been planted in the pond to help minimise the effects of nitrates in the pond. Inside the building our drive to become a fairtrade school is gathering pace with events like the year 8 enterprise day which had Fairtrade and sustainability as its theme. We are also pushing forwards with our recycling initiatives which along with energy saving will be up for discussion next week by the Eco Action Team.

Eco Club put up bird boxes with the help of local tree wardens

Although Eco Club is in its quiet season there has been a lot going on around the school. It was great to see that old computers were going on to have a second life. Our network manager had already done everything possible to keep them in service as long as possible, now they have gone to have another life in use in Africa. It was good to see so much pupil involvement in this process. Waste management is a key issue and again it has been great to see the recycling team working hard around the school. We have now collected well over 100 bags of recycled paper since starting and the bins continue to be well used. Over the winter over 120 trees and shrubs have been planted in the school grounds by pupils and staff (100 trees in the new tree nursery) and we have begun to think about what action can be taken with saving energy around the school.  At the moment we are in the middle of the selection procedure for the new Eco Action Team who will drive our work forwards as the year progresses.

We also have lots of schemes and activities coming up. Next weeks theme is Fairtrade and there will be Assemblies and activities to mark this. We also have a Fairtrade and sustainability Enterprise day in March involving  all of Year 8.  This Friday we have our local tree wardens coming in to work with us putting up nearly 30 bird, bug and bat boxes (many of which have been made by pupils). Next week will also mark the start of work in the allotment again. We have received our free potato pack from the British Potato Council and we have bought our early and main crop seed potatoes which we will plant out next Tuesday in Gardening Club.

At the same time this is also a wonderful time of year to sit back and watch the fruits of last years work as bulbs come up and birds feed at the feeder and the trees start producing buds.

Just to say thank you to all of you who agreed to be fimed doing your recycling collection and composting. The filming was for an advert for Leicestershire Council showing how they are helping schools achieve Eco School Status. Seems fair since it was Leicestershire who provided us with the recycling and composting bins free of charge!

Tomorrow in Eco Club we will be continuing our quest to become more energy efficient as a school with a survey of energy use.

We have had saving energy down as a key target for our Eco Action team for several months now but done very little about it. This term seems like the right time to tackle this important issue.

I have to admit that I am not the best energy saver myself and have been put to shame by a number of you! Because today is the first day of 2009 I have made a personal New Years resolution to save as much energy as possible without affecting quality of life. Over the next year I will  be doing a series of entries to let you know how I’m getting on so you can see if you can beat my energy saving attempts.

My efforts have begun with the purchase of an energy monitor to see how much electricity I’m using and the purchase of some energy saving bulbs, I’ll let you know how I get on.

In school we are hoping to go through a similar process, obviously we are lucky to have a well insulated new building crammed full of energy saving features, but that does not mean we can’t do better still! We have already identified lights and computers being left on as an area to save on already. Again there will be much more on this to follow.