PITCHCARE CLASSIFIEDS PITCHCARE ECOLOGY
Practise what you preach
Over the past year or so, the Pitchcare team has been working hard to make direct integration with nature a bigger part of their daily life
The Pitchcare Ecology range has been a smash hit, helping groundspersons and greenkeepers to more easily reduce the impact of their work on their environment.
Offerings such items as bat boxes, bird boxes and feeders, hedgehog houses, insect hotels and wildflower varietal seeds allows turf, moorland and woodland managers to be more eco-friendly.
With the addition of an insect hotel, a shrubbery and a well-attended bird feeder, a variety of otherwise edged-out wildlife can now make its home on the outskirts of Telford.
The site rests on a natural avenue for bird movements, so having an additional place to rest, and take on some seeds and nuts, will mean a greater likelihood of their successful annual cycle.
Two of the project’s main conductors have been Pitchcare’s Sian Workman and Ed Smith. And everyone on-site has grown used to seeing them and others digging holes, hauling logs around, or up ladders affixing fittings.
Another aspect of the project was an effort to add new ecological facilities at nearby High Ercall Primary School, to allow the young pupils to interact with the nature around them.
High Ercall contains a forest school, so it is essential that part of the curriculum include learning to care for the environment and to enjoy the rural areas surrounding them.
Sian described the theory behind introducing bird feeders to Pitchcare’s Telford site: “There is an ornithological passageway which runs from the north of the site towards the south.”
The wildlife area outside Pitchcare’s head office at Allscott, Telford
“It was to catch the traffic of the bird flightpaths. There are goldfinches, great tits, blue tits, and a pair of pheasants we assume are a mating pair.”
“There’s another good motivator for us to sell ecologically friendly products like the bird boxes to turf professionals: the products can help not just the wildlife, but the turf too.”
“Starlings, especially, are excellent predators of the unwanted insects which can harm fine turf surfaces so, when they are provided for, it helps turf managers with their work.”
“We’re going to expand the Ecology range, stock allowing. We’ve just added, in July, the option to purchase live bees with which to get a hive going.”
Ed spoke about one of the team’s motivations behind the new product range, as well as how that spilled over into a standalone, on-site ecology project:
“A big driver for us has been the move to a mindset of integrated pest management. We encourage golf courses and other venues with fine turf to live by that mindset, so this is a way for us to practise what we preach.”
“It’s also a matter of educating customers on what we could all be doing better. For one, we’d still like to add some swallow nests - if only to keep our annual visitors out of the warehouse!”
“Finally, it’s not only the turf managers who
benefit. We’ve heard from a lot of greenkeepers and groundspersons who’ve told us that their members have given them positive feedback upon seeing ecological projects taking place.”
John Richards, Pitchcare’s Operations Director, also helped with the High Ercall Primary School community project. He said: “We are very pleased with the outcome.”
“I expect the forest school to provide children with many years of fun and learning. We are delighted to be able to use our expertise to help the school in this way.”
The school’s head teacher, Mrs Roberts, said: “We are excited about the superb new whole class area around the fire pit for all to use.”
“The new pond area is attractive, and this should encourage wildlife as it is more natural than the previous pond.”
“Overall, it is a much more environmentally friendly area; attractive and open, which will support learning in many areas for all classes.”
The team is considering potential opportunities to undertake such work again in future, as everyone who got involved both enjoyed it and gained a sense of satisfaction from the work.
Meanwhile, the Pitchcare Ecology range will continue to grow wherever we can find a new niche product which might help turf professionals improve their ecological output.
Top row: Pitchcare’s head office at
Bottom row: High Ercall School project 142 PC August/September 2018
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