Grade six students from Barwon Heads Primary School have teamed up with Barwon Coast to care for their local environment.
Barwon Coast community liaison and education manager Maddie Glynn said more than 60 students spent time with the Barwon Coast Education Team learning how to become wildlife warriors.
“The students learnt about biodiversity, the importance of biosecurity, threatened species, dune protection and being a responsible pet owner,” she said.
“One of the sessions focused on citizen science, which is something that anyone in Barwon Heads or Ocean Grove can get involved in.
“The students took part in the Barwon Heads Friends of the Bluff BioBlitz Project.
“The students contributed to the project by taking pictures of native plants and animals on the Barwon Bluff trail. These pictures contribute valuable biodiversity data that is uploaded to the iNaturalist app for species confirmation by scientists.”
Students also spent time at Ocean Grove Spit clearing around one hectare of European rocket, which is an invasive weed.
“The students’ work will ensure that the native spinifex grass can continue to thrive here,” Ms Glynn said.
“This is important as the spinifex binds the sand to rebuild the dune system. This keeps the dune undulated to provide valuable habitat for wildlife such as the threatened hooded plover.”
“During their last session the students got messy and conducted litter audits at the Ozone trail, Frank Ellis Reserve and the Bluff trail.
“Each class was designated a site to conduct a 30 minute clean up, with the results surprising us all,” Ms Glynn said.
“Cigarette butts were the most littered item, with 697 being picked up on the day. Broken glass was the second most littered item with 138 pieces being picked up, the majority of this coming from the Bluff trail.”
