City Children Go Green At Ygsol Glan Morfa

Written by Tim Bryan Wednesday, 14 April 2010

Splott children save the urban House Sparrow to kick start Welsh environmental volunteering campaign

Sir Jon Shortridge Chairman of Community Service Volunteers and Hywel Emrys from Pobol Y Cwm were the guests of honour at the CSV Action Earth Wales Launch held at Ysgol Glan Morfa, Cardiff.

After a week of rain we were glad to see the sun shinning as our volunteers arrived for our green “make-over” which was to raise awareness of the decline of urban sparrows and construct a Bug Hotel for our creepy crawly friends.

The number of House Sparrows has dropped by an astonishing 50% over the past 25 years, and one of the key reasons for their decline is due to lack of safe nest sites in city areas.  The young volunteers had already been working on the construction of a terraced bird box with the help of Steph from British Trust Conservation Volunteers, and with hammer and nails and loads of enthusiasm set about positioning homes and feed planter in local trees within the Eco Garden.

Once this task was completed representatives from Community 1^st, South Wales Police and volunteers then turned to the mammoth task of securing 6 pallets as the framework for our Bug Hotel. This luxury all-apartment Hotel set in a prime location soon had individually-designed suites offering a unique combination during the visitors stay. The lower floor was suitable for hedgehogs whilst the bamboo suite would encourage bees and other materials added to the development made for a 5* retreat.

After Sir Jon commended the efforts of Action Earth and its volunteers, especially the young volunteers who so actively engage in environmental issues we then made our way back to the hall for welcome refreshments and a lecture on the importance of our local wildlife. This was also an excellent moment to catch up on networking and discussions with volunteers on future Action Earth Projects.