Preston Montford is Shropshire’s first Eco
Centre.
We pride ourselves on doing the best we can to
minimise our impact on the environment.
We hope to inspire our visitors
to learn more about what they can do to look after the planet we all inhabit
RECREATION
ROUTE FOR CUSTOMERS
We now have a short walking
route round the Preston Montford Estate for visitors wishing to stretch their
legs after study sessions. This is a free, healthy outdoor activity which
showcases the great eco features we have on site. Maps are situated on the
“Grounds” display board in the Darwin Common Room. If you get a few moments,
why not take one and enjoy the hidden gems we have on our doorstep. 
PHIL THE BANK
By recycling textiles and
shoes though Phil the Bank we have managed to raise £60. This money will cover
the costs of some new plants for the herb and vegetable plots the produce from
which may well be on your dinner plate.
Meanwhile a family of Robins have taken up residence in
the handle of the bank. Keep an eye out on site for the newly fledged robin
chicks.
THE PRESTON
MONTFORD BUTTER MOUNTAIN
Balancing cost control against
waste and sustainability is a balancing act for any catering department. Our
kitchen staff have been monitoring the amount of butter used at meal times; pack lunches use most
butter, significant amounts are used at breakfast with a smaller amount used on
rolls at dinner times.
As an exercise we collected and
froze all the left over butter during a typical week. At the end of the week
the whole lot was weighed and valued. We were staggered to see that the value
of waste butter amounted £18.00, the equivalent of £2.17 per day. After a cost
benefit calculation we have decided to serve butter in individual foil wrapped
portions. This will save at at least £414.00 this year and in addition we can
recycle the foil wrappings from the butter portions and customers can spread
the portions more easily. So our butter mountain will now be a mere bump on the
landscape and our visitor experience will be enhanced.
INCREASING DIVERSITY IN OUR GROUNDS
Visitors to Preston Montford know we are surrounded by
some lovely fields. But when is a field a pasture and when is a field a
meadow? Meadow and pasture are really
farming terms that describe the use made of the ground for feeding livestock. A
pasture is a field where the stock eats the growing crop, whereas the crop in a
meadow is cut and dried in summer to make hay which is fed to the stock in the
winter.
What grows in a field? A good field has so much more
than grass: In the same way that a varied diet is essential for good human
health, animals are also healthier if they eat a varied diet, so a good meadow
crop will contain as large a variety of plants as can be encouraged to grow.
In a pasture grazing animals return much of what they
eat back to the soil and they also compact the soil by walking on it. Both of
these factors have a big impact on pasture fields and the plants that grow in
them. Over time the diversity of the plant community will be reduced and
leading to use of additional fertiliser or extra feed. In a meadow the plants
are cut for hay soon after flowering and most seeds and nutrients are
completely removed for animal fodder. This reduces the fertility of the soil
and prevents any single species of plant becoming dominant thus maintaining a high
level of diversity within the plant community. Preston Montford grounds have
been grazed over the years and as part of our grounds development we want to
restore a balance of pasture and meadow around the Centre.
The sad death of Fran Griffiths has provided an
opportunity to make this happen and create a meadow which will celebrate the
life of someone who lived life to the full and valued her time at Preston
Montford over many years. The project has begun and will develop “Fran’s
Meadow” as a fantastic resource for the Centre for educational use with
students but also for the pure pleasure of seeing how diverse a real meadow
could and should be.
There will be some public activity days as part of the
process possibly involving a scything day to cut some hay and a hayseed
spreading day to give an injection of good seeds and get “Fran’s Meadow” off to
a flying start. Keep an eye on the Centre website, Facebook page or Twitter for
more details nearer the time.
ied
for and won a funding bid from the Field Studies Council Eco-Fund. Our project
for the restoration of hedges around the grounds has been awarded a grant of £2750. Projects were
judged on their ability to provide a measureable reduction in carbon and inspire
greater environmental understanding and participation from staff and customers.
Over the next few months A-Level Biology students will survey
the hedge to establish a baseline of
biodiversity and then the studies can be repeated in future years to
monitor the impact of the hedge restoration. Next winter the Preston Montford
Hedge project will involve a “Hedgelaying
skills introduction” workday for staff and volunteers. If you are interested
please let us know and send in your contact details.
IT’S
BEEN A BUZZING YEAR FOR BEES
It’s been over a year since PM staff pulled together
and made what might arguably be the UK’s biggest “Bee Hotel”. It has been a
great success with more than 12 different species of solitary bee and wasp
using the hotel to lay their eggs. |
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Cutaway view of the
larval chambers. A leaf cutter
bee Megachile centuncularis. Photo taken from http://www.nhm.ac.uk
|
Of all the materials put in the Hotel the most popular egg-laying sites are bamboo stems and drilled log
stumps. 3-5mm. Female bees choose holes between 3- 5mm wide and line the hole
with chewed mud. The egg is laid on this lining and then the bee collects pollen
and deposits it in the hole; this pollen is food for the larva when it hatches.
The bee seals the egg in a cell with a wall of chewed mud. She then repeats the
process laying eggs along the length of the hole. On a sunny
day at the it is
fascinating to watch females competing for the best stems. You don’t need a big
hotel-just some dry plant stems and a bit of time, so if you can spare the time
go and have a look.
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Compiled and edited by
Angela Munn and Adrian Pickles for FSC Preston Montford. May 2014.
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