The Stuckeys at home © Western Daily Press

Features from Wildlife magazine Wildlife articles 2008 -- Spring 2008 -- ::Severn Barrage ::The Variety of life ::A year at Willsbridge ::Willsbridge comes of age ::Reaching out - Willsbridge ::Round the reserves Wildlife articles 2007 -- Autumn 2007 -- ::Thinking BIG ::Watery webs:the pond network ::Wildlife in the landscape ::Variety of life ::How to be a climate friend ::Seasonal stroll - Walborough ::Round the reserves -- Summer 2007 -- ::The Folly Farm appeal ::Weston Big Wood-biodiversity at its best ::The variety of life ::How to capture a butterfly ::How to get to know an orchid ::Seasonal stroll - WestonBigWood ::Reserves update -- Spring 2007 -- ::Folly Farm - a very special place ::Making a difference at Folly Farm ::How find the magic at Folly Farm ::Seasonal stroll at Folly Farm ::Magic spots at Folly Farm ::Batscapes ::Climate challenge ::Variety of Life - the Ponways project ::Round the reserves Wildlife articles 2006 -- Autumn 2006 -- ::The Severn Estuary ::Bird Watch results ::How to identify garden birds ::Making space for wildlife ::How does your garden grow? ::Round the reserves -- Summer 2006 -- ::Going for green ::Stand up and be counted ::Happy birthday NSLMP ::Holi day - a riot of spring colour ::Avon's species-rich grassland ::How to photograph dragonflies ::The Big Switch ::Round the reserves -- Spring 2006 -- ::How to identify winter water birds ::Make 2006 the year you... ::Invasive invasion ::Sowing the seeds: Willsbridge Mill ::Round the reserves Wildlife articles 2005 -- Autumn 2005 -- ::Indentify common funghi ::Build a hedgehog hideaway ::Big Bird Watch ::Champions for wildlife ::Round the reserves ::Seeds of the futre: Willsbridge Mill -- Summer 2005 -- ::Restoring Folly Farm ::How to become bee-friendly ::How to identify the butterflies of spring ::Save our seas ::The variety of life: hedgerows ::Round the reserves ::25 Ways to make a difference -- Spring 2005 -- ::The variety of life: water voles ::The Avon Biodiversity Action Plan ::How to take really good wildlife photos ::How to help your garden grow ::Round the reserves ::Seasonal strolls: Browns Folly ::Sowing the seeds: for wildlife for people ::Sowing the seeds: looking back

How does your garden grow?

Every garden, like its owner, is unique, reflecting their interests, values, lifestyles and stage in life. It is this variety that can make gardens such a significant wildlife habitat.

Within a tiny area you can have a dozen gardens with vastly different characteristics, an extraordinary variety of tree and plant species, giving year-round nectar for insects, and seeds and berries for birds and mammals, together with surfaces of wood, brick, concrete, grass, gravel - each a different opportunity for lichens, invertebrates, and plants. Compare this variety with a forestry plantation or a field of silage grass. It is the simple fact that gardens are all very different that enables them to support such an astonishing range of biodiversity.

This became very clear to Richard Bland when he visited the three members' gardens that were featured this summer in the Western Daily Press. This was part of a follow-up series to last summer's wildlife garden campaign which we ran in partnership with the newspaper. Richard, who is a Trustee and a wildlife enthusiast agreed to accompany the newspaper to offer advice and support to the three members who had been selected.

“The three gardens and their owners could hardly have been more different, and each was doing a marvellous job of both supporting the local wildlife, and giving great pleasure
to their owners.

Keeping it wild
In Knowle I met David and Angela Stuckey whose steeply sloping garden has an allotment at the bottom, and an area beyond that which they managed to save from development and keep as a wildlife reserve. They were helped by the Avon Wildlife Trust in this campaign five years ago when the Callington Road allotments were threatened by plans to build a psychiatric hospital on the 30-acre wild space their garden overlooked. This was home to a variety of wildlife from bats and badgers to birds and butterflies. The fierce opposition of the Knowle Open Space Action Committee which David chaired was supplemented by advice from the Trust and 18 acres of the site were saved and are now managed as a nature reserve for local people. Angela said 'It's a compromise of sorts but there are so many beautiful flowers and butterflies down there that would have been lost if the Health Trust was allowed to build on the whole site.' Their back garden is a testimony to their love of wildlife. The bird-feeders were in use all year by a succession of species including sparrowhawks, wrens, woodpeckers and blue tits have bred there successfully for the past six years. Slow worms breed in the compost bins and they also showed me photos of the badgers and foxes that come to feed each night. 'We're lucky that our grandchildren have seen them in our garden - they'd only seen them in pictures before.'

A backyard haven
In Bath Valerie Edbrooke's garden had been developed from a pasture field which clearly had never been improved, and, much more surprisingly, the process of construction of her modern house had left the garden area untouched by digger or builders rubble. The result is a peaceful lawn packed full of native plant species and a small part is left un-mown. She has toothwort, stinking hellebore, wild strawberry, yellow pimpernel, caper spurge (which she says keeps moles away!) surrounding a pond with kingcups and water-soldier. Indeed there was scarcely a plant in the garden that was not native, and the result was quiet and gentle, but also fascinating.

A gate in a low wall gives access to National Trust woodland, part of the 'Bath skyline' reserve, and the garden is visited by a wide variety of birds and mammals who are all watched and welcomed by its owner, Valerie has multiple sclerosis which means she can no longer drive or walk without help, but she says 'I spend hours watching the wildlife in my garden - I have time to stand and stare.'The role of a garden for those with a disability is worth stressing. For her it ensures interest, relaxation, and peace, and at the same time it is of great value to the natural world.

As if by magic...
In Chipping Sodbury a brand new 'starter-home' had a pocket-handkerchief garden that had been left a rubble filled desert by the builders when Jane Renton moved in five years ago with daughters Milly and Maya. The enthusiastic young family were determined to transform it into a green space. 'It was a real challenge but we were determined to do it because I believe it's vitally important for kids to have their own green space,' said Jane. In the time since she has dug out a vegetable plot, established containers for herbs and memorial trees recording key family events, and provided five year old Milly with her own patch of ground, of which she was justifiably proud. 'As if by magic a garden has appeared from a building site!' said Jane. A holly blue butterfly fluttered by as we talked. The garden was teaching the children, and the neighbours, that wildlife matters. There was a bubbling determination to build a world that respects creation. ”

Enjoy your garden!
If you want to improve the role your garden plays in the wildlife of your area, you don't have to abandon being a good gardener, and you don't have to let the nettles take over. Just make sure that so far as possible you don't use chemicals. Compost everything and return it to the soil. Make sure there is nectar, seeds, berries and bird-food available throughout the year. Have a pond that is deep enough for frogs. Abandon using the words 'weed', 'pest' and 'vermin'; they represent an out-dated philosophy. Don't be too tidy. Enjoy your garden, and being different from your neighbours. Remember, variety is the key to biodiversity.