Nature and the Substation
How the two can live in harmony
Alice Green spent two weeks doing Work Experience with the Sustainability team. Here, she shares her reflections on a visit to our Environmental Education Centres.
The most commonly asked question at Bishops Wood Environmental Education Centre is “why on earth is there a substation on the nature reserve?” And certainly, this seems a valid question as you pull into the 70-acre site to be greeted by the huge, concrete and metal structure looming over the car park.
But the question would be more aptly phrased “why is there a nature reserve by a substation?” As with all logical questions, there is of course a logical answer.
The whole site is owned by National Grid. In fact, National Grid owns and operates over 300 substations on more than 240 sites across the UK. That’s a lot of land.
As part of a commitment to creating bigger, better and more connected spaces, National Grid has partnered with environmental charities to make sure the land around their network infrastructure is managed in a way that maximises the benefits for the natural environment and communities.
The Bishops Wood Environmental Education Centre is a result of one of these partnerships and is operated by FSC. The centre runs programmes for local schools, from mini-beast hunts and pond dipping for primary school children, to courses delivering A Level coursework skills for older ones.
When I visited the site, there were around 40 seven-year-olds working together to ‘row’ a life size long boat created from willow trees, carefully landscaped into the distinct shape of a Viking ship.
Walking around Bishops Wood, it’s surprisingly easy to forget the presence of the substation, although I’m told the visiting children are captivated by the electricity pylons on the site — indeed, having never seen a pylon so close even I am a little in awe of their size. The site is vast with huge open spaces and, as the name gives away, an even bigger area of woodland. As well as inventive play and learning spaces for children these areas are valuable habitat for wildlife and are helping to conserve local biodiversity.
Although it may be the biggest, Bishops Wood isn’t the only substation with a nature reserve. In fact, there are currently four Environmental Education Centres running many programmes at four different sites across England and Wales.
As well as visiting Bishops Wood, I took a trip to Iver Environment Centre. Set in 2.5 acres of land, Iver could perhaps be described as Bishops Wood’s little sister.
However, while Iver might be small in size, the range of educational and wellbeing programmes on offer are far from small in scope. From the ‘Food for Thought’ programme, where children are taught to grow their own food to Memory Cafes offering support to Alzheimer’s carers and sufferers, there are opportunities for all members of the community at Iver. Like the National Grid office in Warwick, it even has its own bee hives.
Watching a bumble bee pollinate a flower as I was shown around the site, it’s clear to see that the natural environment is benefiting from these partnerships. Although less visible, the community benefits are another important outcome of the Environment Education Centres.
According to scientific studies and reports from mental health charity Mind, ecotherapy is a cost-effective and successful way to help improve both physical and mental wellbeing, boost self-esteem and reduce social isolation. This emphasises how important the impacts of the wellbeing programmes run on these substation sites are.
Of course, the educational impacts are also of note.
It may seem strange to have an education centre and substation side by side until you consider how important it is to inspire more people – particularly women — to take an interest in STEM-related subjects.
By taking science out of the classroom and contextualising learning these sites will hopefully inspire the next generation of engineers. I certainly found my visits an educational experience.
- — — — — — — — — — — —
If you are interested in volunteering at one of the centres or in any of their environmental education programmes or simply to find out more, please follow these links to your local EEC:
Bishops Wood (Worcestershire) in partnership with Field Studies Council
Iver Education Centre (Buckinghamshire) in partnership with Groundwork South
West Boldon Lodge (South Tyneside and Newcastle) in partnership with Groundwork
Skelton Grange (Leeds) in partnership with The Conservation Volunteers
