Bison!

Mama Beech sits on a hill just outside Canterbury in Kent. 

This photo is from last winter. It can be a frosty place, exposed on one side, and battered by the elements all day every day.

It can be ridiculously hot on the field with no shelter, breezes become gales despite the trees around the perimeter, and rain likes to seep in around all the edges whenever it falls!

A few miles away is an amazing place called Wildwood Trust, a centre of excellence for the conservation of British wildlife. A place I have been to many times and even did some CPD there a few years ago.

Luckily for us there is a swathe of forest between us, with over 11 square miles of distinctive ancient woodland (complete with walking and cycling routes, plus wildlife spotting and horse riding), and a City! Both can provide good community links.


Part of Blean Woods is a RSPB nature reserve, but the west Blean Woods includes land belonging to Kent Wildlife Trust who plan to reintroduce BISON (currently at Wildwood) back into Kent!
(Click on the image below for more info)


The Wilder Blean project aims to reintroduce Bison to the UK, in much the way Beavers have been slowly spreading back through the country. The wildlife trust says:


"European bison are being used in this project because they are ecosystem engineers, meaning that they are able to change their environment through their natural behaviours. Bison can change woodlands in a way that no other animal can, they eat bark and create dust baths which each have benefits for many plants and animals, these are functions that have been missing from our UK woodlands for thousands of years and bringing them back can help restore an abundance of wildlife."

And it is happening on Mama Beech's doorstep!

Soooooo - of course we want to be involved in any way we can!
Also - they are BISON! Too cute to ignore!

The new school year will continue to be committed to outdoor learning, both through regular Forest School and through bringing as much learning outside as we can - and bringing the outdoors INSIDE as well.

With themes such as 'The Stone Age' on the curriculum, as well as 'environment' and 'ecology', plus history, geography and science focuses all year round, we want to do whatever we can to both promote the Wilder Blean Project and to get the children excited about British Wildlife, and their local area. 

So we plan to start next school year meeting with the Kent Wildlife Trust and seeing what we can do to help. 

If you feel your Forest School, School, or you personally could promote their cause, donate, or just get involved, either contact them via their website or let me know in comments that you'd like to know more and we'll pass on all the info we can!

If you have any ideas on how a Primary School can be more involved with such a great project, please let us know!

2020 has been challenging so far, I think we can all agree on that! It will be nice if we can head into the new school year with something exciting and different to look forward to!



 
Location: Canterbury, UK

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