Pupils at Larbert High showed off their green credentials when they braved the cold December weather to plant 400 trees at Stenhouse Park.

The native woodland trees include rowan, silver birch, hazel and bird cherry were donated to the school by the Woodland Trust. The trees will form part of the Queen’s Green Canopy, a tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

The school was supported by the Council’s Biodiversity Officer and Countryside Ranger.

The tree planting is also part of a wider project to trial new ways of managing local greenspaces to deliver benefits for local people and the environment. The project will see changes at 35 pilot sites, including Stenhouse Park. These changes will create attractive areas which benefit wildlife and help combat climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide. The changes include creating areas of more natural longer grass, sowing wildflower meadow strips, planting woodland trees, sowing nectar-rich spring bulbs and planting fruit trees.

Councillor Paul Garner, spokesperson for Environment said: “Pupils at Larbert High really did a wonderful job planting the native trees while showing a real commitment to improving the local environment and tackling climate change.

“Climate change is a complex issue but there are simple things we can do which includes increasing tree and woodland locally and globally. Well done to everyone who took part!”

And local people can give Falkirk Council their views on this more sustainable approach to managing our greenspaces by completing a survey.