Scouts building a bug hotel on the route of the Lichfield Canal

A local scout group has been having a bash at creating wildlife habitats along the Lichfield Canal.

The Foresters Scout Group, based in Yoxall, have been frequent visitors to the Darnford Park, Darnford Moors and Summerhill sections of waterway during the summer.

Scouts building a bug hotel on the route of the Lichfield Canal
Scouts building a bug hotel on the route of the Lichfield Canal

The youngsters have been controlling bracken through the traditional method of bashing it with sticks, building bug hotels and habitat piles, digging bee scrapes, planting trees and constructing and installing bird and bat boxes.

The Foresters’ Beavers, Cubs and Scouts have also litter-picked and sorted hundreds of engineering bricks for use in future construction work.

Christine Howles, from the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust, said: “Their work is vital to our environmental objectives and we hope that these young people will have learnt more about wildlife and will have enjoyed putting The Scout Association’s relevant objectives into practice.

The scouts and their helpers sorting bricks for the Lichfield Canal
The scouts and their helpers sorting bricks for the Lichfield Canal

“We want to thank, not only the young people who have helped, but also their leaders and their parents for making all this possible and for ensuring that the youngsters get to our sites, learn new skills and work safely.”

The group will be back in Darnford Park in September, mending and securing the chestnut pale fencing.

Angela Burns, leader of the scout group, said: “We picked a general theme of water last year for our scouts to be involved in and embarked on how water impacts on life.

“We wanted to get practically involved and chose the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust. The project is huge and we want to be involved with this in the long term.

”All our group have loved being outdoors and have learnt lots of new skills and have appreciated all the work going on to move the project forward.”