EAGLE-EYED school children in Leyland rounded off a weekend of birdwatching in style, courtesy of national housebuilder Lovell Homes.
As part of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds’ (RSPB) Big Garden Weekend, the developer invited Year One pupils from St Anne’s Catholic Primary School to its Shawbrook Manor development to learn more about the town’s local birdlife.
Across the weekend of 25-26 January, each child was tasked with keeping a checklist of all the birds that appeared in their gardens before their trip to Shawbrook Manor.
And to encourage more feathered friends into their garden, the children built their own bird feeders and designed their own bird masks, before receiving a talk from John Finnan at the Preston Society of Birdwatching and Natural History on how they can help protect the birds’ natural habitat.
Elizabeth Darnell, head teacher at St Anne’s Catholic Primary School, said: “We’re very grateful to Lovell Homes for a fantastic afternoon and helping the children learn more about the birds they have seen in their own gardens.
“These birds play a vital part in our local ecosystem and I’m sure the bird feeders that we have built will help birds during the tougher winter months. I hope the children will now feel inspired to continue watching out for birds in their garden and do what they can to help our local birdlife.”
The RSPB’s Big Garden Weekend, which took place across the country on Saturday 25 – Monday 27 January, is an annual campaign that encourages the public to count the number of birds that appear in their garden.
Lovell Homes also provided the Preston Society of Birdwatching and Natural History a boost by donating £75 to help fund the group’s field trips throughout the year.
Anne-Marie O’Doherty, regional sales director for Lovell Homes North West, said: “Each year the RSPB does a fantastic job of raising awareness for the challenges that our birdlife faces in the UK. We wanted to help by encouraging children in Leyland to learn more about the interesting birds that live in their area.
“I’d like to thank the children St Anne’s Catholic Primary School for coming down to Shawbrook Manor with their completed checklists. We were really impressed with how all enthusiastic they all were about the birds they had spotted and the fantastic bird masks they created.
“A big thank you as well to John Finnan for all his help on site and providing a really interesting talk which kept the children thoroughly engaged.”
Lovell Homes is building a range of two, three, four and five-bedroom homes at Shawbrook Manor, off Leyland Lane, with prices currently starting from £195,950.
For more information about Lovell Homes please visit www.lovell.co.uk or follow @Lovell_UK on Twitter.
