National Star students join National Trust to grow wildflowers

National Star students are teaming up with the National Trust Cotswold Countryside team to improve the biodiversity of wildflowers on its Ullenwood campus.

The two charities are working in partnership as part of the Stroud Landscape Project to restore and create more areas of wildflower rich grasslands in Gloucestershire. The National Trust has collected wildflower seeds from a network of donor sites in Gloucestershire on and off their land and will be sowing this native seed at National Star in Ullenwood with the help of enthusiastic students.

With Stroud at its centre, the Stroud Landscape Project extends as far as Crickley Hill to Wotton-under-Edge. The area is renowned for rare species, like the Duke of Burgundy butterfly, pasqueflower and horseshoe bats.

By improving habitats at National Star students will be playing their part in restoring the biodiversity of their campus and encouraging declining species to call Ullenwood their home.

The wildflower sowing project at Ullenwood follows on from an ambitious project earlier in 2025 when 4,500 saplings were planted in the grounds of the specialist college to create wildlife corridors for the thriving population of hedgehogs and other animals, birds, and insects.

More than thirty students and staff will be involved in sowing the wildflowers in October 2025.

‘Restoring, creating and connecting habitats at Ullenwood will ensure our campus is rich in biodiversity,’ said Elaine Hodgin, Sustainability Lead at National Star.

‘A recent bioblitz proved our campus is teeming with insects, birds, and mammals, such as bats and hedgehogs. However, it was identified that we could do more to broaden the range of wildflowers growing on the site. It is fantastic to be part of the broader Stroud Landscape Project, knowing that we are sowing wildflowers, native to Gloucestershire, on our land,’ she added.

David Armstrong, Stroud Landscape Project Delivery Manager for the National Trust explains: ‘We are excited to be able to work with National Star to create a wildflower meadow on their campus. Not only will this provide interest and opportunities for the students but will contribute to the network of similar habitats that we are working with partners to restore across the landscape.’