Pupils from Amesbury School, Hindhead have now achieved the Bronze award in the Eco-Schools initiative to recognise their achievement in working towards a sustainable lifestyle. Part of the work required the pupils to conduct a survey of the school grounds and establish which birds visited regularly. To encourage a wider variety of birds to visit, a feeding station was erected and pupils are delighted to report that greenfinches, not seen near the school for several years, have returned and the station is constantly busy with blue tits, great tits, nut hatches, robins, chaffinches, pied wagtails and bright green siskins. Year 4 boys, Noah Dixon and Adam Fairley were really excited one morning to spot two small birds with red stripes on their heads devouring seeds. “We looked them up in a book and discovered they were goldfinches,” said Noah, “and they’ve been coming back regularly since then.” Larger birds such as ravens, blackbirds, thrushes and ring-collared doves can also be seen. One morning there was even a green woodpecker and a pheasant enjoying an early breakfast! Thanks to the maintenance team, bird nesting boxes have been put up and we are hoping that some of the visitors will become residents! “The whole school has got bird watch fever!” exclaimed Tom Gleadhill the Year 8 Eco rep. Most pupils from Years 3 – 8 have been involved in some aspect of Amesbury’s bio-diversity drive and there are great plans for the future as we head towards the Silver Award.