Last week the children of Sycamore class from St Mary Bourne Primary School, helped us unveil the new sign and information board at Hirst Meadow.
Sustainable Bourne Valley (SBV) has been slowly and steadily transforming an unused plot of land in the centre of St Mary Bourne into a haven for wildlife, creating a habitat for many threatened species, such as bees, butterflies, moths and birds. The aim was to establish a wildflower meadow, a small woodland area, and introduce plenty of habitat and shelter for the wildlife, such as log piles, hedgehog shelters, and refugia (refuge) for slow worms and lizards. The meadow is situated between Hirst Copse and the Woodland Burial Ground and has a public footpath through the centre.
The children from Sycamore class have visited Hirst Meadow on many occasions since 2019. They have planted all the trees, including two junipers into pots until they are large enough to join the others. They have also planted wildflower plug plants, sown wild flower seeds and made a large wood pile with careful positioning for hedgehogs, frogs and foxes (!) etc. On this occasion, however, there was much excitement, as they helped us to unveil the Hirst Meadow Sign and Information Board.
After a short talk about the meadow by Caroline Hoyes, from SBV, Alexandra from Sycamore Class removed a recycled hessian sack covering and the sign was revealed. This little ceremony was attended by Oli Madge, Maxine Owen and David Peart from St Mary Bourne Parish Council, which has kindly given us permission to re-purpose the site.
After the unveiling, the children enjoyed themselves by making wildflower seed bombs (see below) which they wrapped in fabric parcels to take home to throw wherever they wanted. They also placed some recycled roof tiles around the edges of the meadow, in the undergrowth, as shelters for hedgehogs. As hedgehogs like to use leaves, grass, straw and bracken to make their nests, the children started them off by placing some dried leaves in the potential nests.
The sign has been designed by Nik Cross, with a map of the site and some information about the wildlife and wildflowers. There are also QR codes that link to even more detailed information on our website “The Hirst Meadow Board”
