During summer 2011 we took part in a series of wildlife activities called 'Love Your Garden' held at Fordhall Farm in conjunction with Shropshire Wildlife Trust.
In addition to the sessions was a competition to improve your garden for wildlife, open to people in the Market Drayton area. We decided to build a pond and you can see here how we did it. See what else we did too... This website contains lots of the material we submitted to the competition, which was to:
| We like our garden for its' different habitats and the variety of wildlife we discover. As it is quite a big garden, we are pleased to be helping wildlife by not having to do much gardening!
It seems the less gardening we do, the more wild plants arrive by themselves, the more mini-beasts move in, the more prolific the animals and birds become, and the more satisfaction we get from all of them. We have had a tiny 'puddle' for a few years and even with such a small bit of water, we have been amazed at the wildlife we have seen. We expect a bigger pond to support more wildlife and not dry out. By going to the sessions at Fordhall Farm, we learnt about wildlife, what we could do to improve our garden for wildlife, and we were given some useful pocket guides and wildlife identification sheets. The sessions we went to:
|
And the result is...
We won! Well, really, the wildlife in our garden is the true winner. We have improved our garden for wildlife in lots of ways and are now a lot more aware of the wildlife we have and how to provide the best habitats for it.
The news was announced during an interview with Ryan Kennedy for BBC Radio Shropshire, which was broadcast in October. We are delighted to have received a lovely prize hamper packed full of great wildlife goodies from Beth (Fordhall Farm) and Sara (Shropshire Wildlife Trust).
Along with the bird feeder, food and nest box, there are wildlife identification books and guides, a bug hunting backpack full of goodies, binoculars, and a book 'Wildlife gardening for everyone' crammed with hints and tips on how to improve your garden for wildlife. Thank you!
The news was announced during an interview with Ryan Kennedy for BBC Radio Shropshire, which was broadcast in October. We are delighted to have received a lovely prize hamper packed full of great wildlife goodies from Beth (Fordhall Farm) and Sara (Shropshire Wildlife Trust).
Along with the bird feeder, food and nest box, there are wildlife identification books and guides, a bug hunting backpack full of goodies, binoculars, and a book 'Wildlife gardening for everyone' crammed with hints and tips on how to improve your garden for wildlife. Thank you!
Our summer of wildlife gardening inspired a little song - to the tune of 'The twelve days of Christmas'
On the last day of summer, my garden gave to me,
Twelve woodlice sleeping,
Eleven ladybirds crammed-in,
Ten butterflies flying,
Nine crickets jumping,
Eight ants-a-stinging,
Seven spiders spinning,
Six voles out playing,
Five fledge - lings,
Four wriggling worms,
Three harvestmen,
Two lumpy toads,
And a pond that is full of water fleas!
On the last day of summer, my garden gave to me,
Twelve woodlice sleeping,
Eleven ladybirds crammed-in,
Ten butterflies flying,
Nine crickets jumping,
Eight ants-a-stinging,
Seven spiders spinning,
Six voles out playing,
Five fledge - lings,
Four wriggling worms,
Three harvestmen,
Two lumpy toads,
And a pond that is full of water fleas!
We love our garden!
When we moved to our house several years ago, the garden was very neat and well kept (using weed killers, it transpired!) and plain (the whole of the back garden was just grass with a few mature fruit trees). We have transformed it into a wildlife friendly garden partly as a result of being unable to keep it neat and tidy without using chemicals or getting help and partly because we like what comes to live here!
We want to share our garden with wildlife and so try to make sure that what we do is not harmful. We have made a young orchard with wooded margins, a vegetable patch, a wild flower meadow, allowed lots of shrubby growth, nettle patches, long grassy areas, log piles and much more. The best thing about our new pond is that we can see it from our window and spot visiting wildlife all year round.
We really began to love our garden and the wildlife in it one summer when the front lawn was full of white clover in flower. The bees loved it, so we left it and mowed around it. The patches of longer growth soon attracted lots of grasshoppers and moths which we didn't want to mow, so we left it. We eventually mowed the patches into heart shapes, which were really apparent after a bit of snow and some footwork.
We want to share our garden with wildlife and so try to make sure that what we do is not harmful. We have made a young orchard with wooded margins, a vegetable patch, a wild flower meadow, allowed lots of shrubby growth, nettle patches, long grassy areas, log piles and much more. The best thing about our new pond is that we can see it from our window and spot visiting wildlife all year round.
We really began to love our garden and the wildlife in it one summer when the front lawn was full of white clover in flower. The bees loved it, so we left it and mowed around it. The patches of longer growth soon attracted lots of grasshoppers and moths which we didn't want to mow, so we left it. We eventually mowed the patches into heart shapes, which were really apparent after a bit of snow and some footwork.
Our approach is to look after the smallest things because if there are lots of them, the bigger things will have food, and so on up the food chain! We have heard owls (which probably come for the voles), seen a sparrow hawk eating a starling, watched buzzards circle overhead and had foxes and a weasel.
