Aylesbury school celebrates national wildlife initiative

Housebuilder Barratt David Wilson Homes has encouraged children at Kingsbrook View Primary Academy in Aylesbury to take part in the RSPB’s Big School’s Birdwatch (January 6 – 20 February 2023) initiative this year.

The housebuilder, currently building a selection of properties at its Kingsbrook development in Aylesbury, donated a bird table to help children create a home for native birds on their school grounds.

The Big Schools' Birdwatch is a simple survey pupils can complete to contribute to the Big Garden Birdwatch – the world's largest wildlife survey. The RSBP reports that 38 million birds have disappeared from the UK in the last 50 years, this severe decline underlines that nature is in crisis. The Big Garden Birdwatch helps monitor the birds whilst encouraging participants to welcome them into their gardens and balconies, offering them a safe space to rest and feed. Supplied by the RSPB, the bird table is made from sustainably sourced FSC-certified wood and will help attract natives of the species, such as blue tits, house sparrows, robins, wrens, and wagtails, to the school playground.

Mr Turner, head of academy at Kingsbrook View Primary Academy, said: “We are passionate about teaching pupils from a young age the importance of preserving wildlife, so we are excited to now have our very own bird table within the school grounds. The pupils have really enjoyed thinking about where to place the table and have already devised a feeding routine to encourage the birds over.”

Marc Woolfe, head of sales for Barratt David Wilson North Thames, added: “As one of the flagship developments of our partnership with the RSPB, nature is at the heart of Kingsbrook. Once complete, we will have installed 1,145 bird boxes onsite, as well as several hundred custom-made ‘Swift Bricks’. We have implemented these resting places across all our other developments in the region, providing a vast area of protected spaces for wildlife to take cover this spring. The Big Schools' Birdwatch aligns closely with our own sustainable ethos, and I hope this donation will encourage the children to take small steps to help protect wild birds by welcoming them onto their school grounds.”