But, notwithstanding the thunder of so many vehicles, the school was awarded Defence Estates' coveted 2008 Sanctuary Award and Silver Otter Trophy for its "Leaf Trails" project, the latest in an extraordinary series of conservation initiatives to protect and enhance wildlife and its habitats while helping people to enjoy them.
It is all down to the Leconfield Carrs Conservation Group, founded in 1996 when the school itself opened. Since then, the conservationists have planted 160,000 trees, and developed habitats that encourage the growth of native plants, butterflies, birds, amphibia, and mammals. Rare creatures making their homes at Leconfield Carrs in growing numbers include the six-belted clearing moth, great crested newt, barn owl and water vole.
Conservation Officer Alan Bakewell is also Human Resource Business Partner at the school. He said:
"We have a duty to look after this part of East Yorkshire for the public. We do everything we can to enhance nature."
The three Leaf Trails were opened in December 2007 by Dr Robert Stoneman of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. The walking routes are colour coded with blue, green and red signposts, and range from 1.5 to 4.5 kilometres in length. The paths are designed to help more than 2,000 Deence School of Transport staff – military, civilian instructors and support personnel and their families – to learn about wildlife. Public access is limited, as it would be at any defence establishment, but where possible groups of local people are encouraged to enjoy the trails.
Information boards on all three routes have photos of species likely to be spotted, and walkers can plan their exploration by having a look at the trails online before they put their walking boots on. Each Leaf Trail has been filmed and can be explored on dedicated web pages. Alan Bakewell said:
"The DST site is so large and complex that staff are often unfamiliar with much of the training area. The filming and all the technology were carried out by DST's own Media Support and IT sections, so costs were low."
Visitors learn about the work that has been done on the trails, which is extensive. Several overgrown ponds had to be cleared of reed-mace, revealing dragonflies, damselflies, toads, newts and frogs.
Although Leconfield Carrs is at sea level, it has steep artificial hills created from the rubble of buildings demolished to make way for a memorial site and car park. They were designed to simulate the most demanding terrains of Afghanistan, but the topography is also ideal for certain wildlife. Manufactured "dunes", for example, attract flocks of nesting sand martins.
"We import expertise where necessary," said Alan Bakewell. "The East Riding Archaeological Society was involved in our most unusual project, developing a pure strain of corn on land where it grew thousands of years ago.
"This year our conservation projects have included ringing barn owls, trapping moths and relocating smooth newts to a better habitat.
"RAF Sea King trainees have helped us to create an island in the middle of a lake which is now home to oystercatchers, terns and grebes."
Receiving the Silver Otter trophy in London, Colonel Paul Brook, Commandant of the Defence School of Transport, said: "You might think this would be the last place for conservation activity yet our willing volunteers have got on with it. We now have the fattest and happiest foxes north of the Humber."
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