The Bug Big Build

This project will be carried out by a group of six sixteen year old students that have faced a range of challenges through their lives. This group includes students with special education needs (SEND) and with disabilities, a young carer, students with low confidence and resilience plus English as their second language. 

One aim of this project is to give these young people employability skills and confidence by completing meaningful rewarding tasks, working as a team and working alongside quarry staff. Other aims of this project Centre around highlighting the importance of insects to our natural world. Data shows that we have lost 60% of our winged insects in the last 20 years (The Bugs Matter Citizen Science Survey. Bugs Matter, 2021). 

We all need to do something now if we can and we hope that by creating a substantial bug hotel on the quarry site to inspire and educate people about what they can do in their own lives to make a difference could help. Bug Hotels and insect homes can enhance biodiversity not only in quarries but anywhere where there is green space by providing essential habitats such as bees, beetles, moths, millipedes which are vital for pollination and natural pest control. It creates a safe haven for those insects that restore ecological balance in areas to mitigate human activity such as quarrying.

Invertebrates contribute to the overall health of the ecosystem by promoting plant growth and support our food chain. Having bug hotels in quarries will not only aid environmental conservation but also encourage a greater understanding and appreciation of the natural world among local community and visitors to site.