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A guided site visit and peatland-themed workshop with Wood Farm Primary School and Earthwatch (Naturehood) at Lye Valley Nature Reserve, Oxford. The workshop engaged with Year 5 students with the history, ecology, and conservation efforts at Lye Valley Nature Reserve - a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Lye Valley is a 14,000-year-old internationally rare habitat, a tufa-forming valley-head alkaline spring fen. It represents 1.5 ha of only 19 ha of this habitat left in all England and supports over 20 species of plant rare in Oxfordshire of which 14 are on the England Red List. It also hosts ten species of rare and 27 species of nationally scarce invertebrates, notably soldier flies and glow worms, as well as thriving populations of reptiles and amphibians.
The students were encouraged to explore the site through sight, smell, sound, and touch. Following the completion of a ‘fen quiz’, the class was taken back to Wood Farm Primary School, where the workshop continued with a letter-writing afternoon, reflecting on the students’ experiences at their local fen. The letters are addressed to Year 5 students at Clooneyquinn National School in Ireland, who will reflect on their own experiences made during a similarily run workshop at their local bog. The workshop in Ireland is hosted by members of the Bog Academy Ireland (RE-PEAT).