St Columba's Greenies start work on our bird garden

An energetic group of St Columba's students, 3/4 Eco Warrior representatives and Green Team parents rolled up their sleeves on the weekend and started work on the new Indigenous garden area for our birds.

The garden is located outside the front of the school, and the aim is to install locally indigenous tubestock with Boon Wurrung significance to develop a supporting habitat for bird species.

We spent the afternoon clearing the existing garden and filling bags and wheelbarrows with mulch to be used around the school and Parish,❠said Tom Carrick, a 3/4 Eco Warrior.

We also discovered some interesting bugs, it was a lot of fun.

Did you know

• Over one third of Victoria's bird species, as well as Australian and international migratory birds, visit or reside in our school's Elster Creek coastal zone.
• Elster Creek (from the coast inland 2 km) is home to a diversity of species, with nearly 1000 fauna recorded by volunteer naturalist Gio Fitzpatrick since 2012.
• The lower Creek and foreshore are visited by migratory birds including international species.

The project is being supported by Landcare Australia and Momentum Energy's Powerful Youth Projects initiative. Through the initiative, schools, childcare centres and youth groups across Victoria will see young people actively caring for and learning about their natural environment. From Lorne to Nungurner, students will be getting their hands dirty building veggie and bushtucker gardens, Indigenous and sensory gardens. Other projects include those to learn about biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, including bee projects, frog bogs and native revegetation.