Bird houses give color and protection to Bleijerheide oak forest
The oak forest along Domaniale Mining Street has gotten more color. In fact, a group of 24 students from St. John Baptist made and hung about 16 colorful birdhouses in the forest as part of the social project MatchMate South.
St. Jan baptist is a school in Kerkrade for Special Education (SO) and Secondary Special Education (VSO) for Very Difficult Learning Children (ZMLK). The project MatchMate South is a social internship for young people. Thanks to this project children discover their talents and at the same time do something for someone else. They meet new people and make our society stronger. Jan Baptist and the Municipality of Kerkrade work together in this project. Alderman René van Drunen (Youth Care): "A valuable cooperation in which we help each other and can learn a lot from each other! "
Artwork
The students diligently made the birdhouses at school. At the end of April, the children hung their works of art in the oak forest. The colleagues of the field service of the municipality of Kerkrade lent a hand.
Oak processionary caterpillar on the menu
The birdhouses not only make the forest more colorful, but they also help fight the oak processionary caterpillar naturally. Thanks to the birdhouses, we attract more birds to the forest. And for these birds, the oak processionary caterpillar is on the menu. The birds eat the caterpillars, thus helping us protect the oak trees from the processionary caterpillars and reduce nuisance caused by the caterpillars.
