Pupils at Ysgol y Faenol in Bodelwyddan have put in a ‘treeific’ effort to provide new habitats for local nature at their school ground.
Pupils have joined together with Denbighshire County Council’s Biodiversity and Countryside Service team members to plant over 1,000 trees of varied species at the school.
This work is funded by the UK Government through the 2025/26 UK Shared Prosperity Fund which has granted Denbighshire County Council £278,600 for nature recovery works across the county.
Rolling up their sleeves, pupils have been busy planting hedgerows and standard trees at Ysgol y Faenol.
Standard size trees planted include alder, sessile oak, rowan, hazel, silver birch, bird cherry, guelder rose and elder.
The children also planted wayfaring trees, which have an interesting history for the pupils to learn along with facts about the other species. Wayfaring trees were named in the 1500s after been noticed on the routes between Wiltshire and London. If you see a wayfaring tree, you are said to be on or near a path.
Over 1,100 smaller trees of different varieties planted at the school will also create hedgerows and woodland that will help pupils learn more about the habitat benefits to local nature as they develop and mature.
The trees planted to create these areas included wild pear that will provide a food source for birds and mammals and its flowers a haven for local pollinators. Also planted by the pupils is dogwood, the leaves of which are eaten by the caterpillars of some moths, including the case-bearer moth.
The habitat creation at Ysgol y Faenol will not only give the pupils an area to learn about local nature but will also contribute locally to the absorption of carbon emissions thanks to extra trees in the ground.
Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport and Biodiversity Champion, said:
“We are really grateful to all the Ysgol y Faenol pupils for their brilliant help towards shaping this great new area to support local nature to and to also benefit the wellbeing and learning of all pupils current and future.”
