Futures Forum: Love of trees is in our roots, we must stop the culls now
And one place which we could be looking after better is our gardens:
Futures Forum: The decline of the British front garden: "There's an environmental cost. Paving increases the risk of flash flooding - instead of grass and soil soaking up moisture, it runs straight off paving and overwhelms drainage systems."
We can do something, however:
Futures Forum: Healing gardens
Futures Forum: Chelsea Flower Show: sustainable landscaping within an urban setting
Futures Forum: How to encourage wildlife in your garden
Futures Forum: Tips for turning your outdoor space into a place that will improve your wellbeing and support wildlife
Futures Forum: Gardens as nature reserves: “Our message to all garden owners is to see your outdoor space as a small-scale nature reserve – part of a network of gardens that link to make a great big, valuable habitat."
Futures Forum: Greening grey Britain > tackling pollution and flooding
Futures Forum: Wild Flowers and Front Gardens
Futures Forum: Greening grey Britain @ Radio 4's Costing the Earth
Futures Forum: The Sidford Wildlife Garden Project
Today's i newspaper looks at the worrying trends and what we can do to help wildlife in our own back yards:
The worrying damage modern gardens are doing to Britain’s wildlife
Friday June 29th 2018
An empty bird box is the first thing James Arnold sees when he steps into his Cambridgeshire garden.
The great tit chicks that hatched there fledged a few days ago. Elsewhere, blue tits perch in the fruit trees, a solitary bee hovers above a flower and Red Admiral butterflies flutter from bloom to bloom. The garden is brimming with life.
Odd, then, that Springwatch presenter Chris Packham warned recently of an imminent “ecological apocalypse”. His warning came after the RSPB reported an “alarming” decline in wildlife earlier this year.
Figures showed that turtle doves are at risk of being wiped out and that numbers of grey partridges, corn buntings and tree sparrows have dropped by at least 90 per cent in 40 years. The same fate awaits starlings and sparrows which have declined by 70 per cent and 71 per cent respectively over the course of a generation.
On the ground, fewer ponds in gardens has been bad news for frogs and toads and the dwindling hedgehog population is a regular source of consternation for wildlife lovers.
An empty bird box is the first thing James Arnold sees when he steps into his Cambridgeshire garden.
The great tit chicks that hatched there fledged a few days ago. Elsewhere, blue tits perch in the fruit trees, a solitary bee hovers above a flower and Red Admiral butterflies flutter from bloom to bloom. The garden is brimming with life.
Odd, then, that Springwatch presenter Chris Packham warned recently of an imminent “ecological apocalypse”. His warning came after the RSPB reported an “alarming” decline in wildlife earlier this year.
Figures showed that turtle doves are at risk of being wiped out and that numbers of grey partridges, corn buntings and tree sparrows have dropped by at least 90 per cent in 40 years. The same fate awaits starlings and sparrows which have declined by 70 per cent and 71 per cent respectively over the course of a generation.
On the ground, fewer ponds in gardens has been bad news for frogs and toads and the dwindling hedgehog population is a regular source of consternation for wildlife lovers.
Changing gardens
The existential threat to some species of British wildlife suggests that Mr Arnold’s garden – indeed all of the nation’s gardens – would have been rather different places just 30 years ago. He agrees, but says it’s not all doom and gloom. “There’s definitely a greater array of songbirds now,” he says. “But we see fewer sparrows, starlings and bull finches than we used to.”
Changes in climate and the way we use our gardens have, it seems, had a profound impact on British wildlife. In the space of a generation, the British garden has mutated. So what, exactly, has happened?
If you were to stitch together all the domestic gardens in the UK and lay them out like a patchwork quilt, they would take up the same amount of space as Norfolk. That is 500,000 hectares’ worth of gardens, covering 2-3 per cent of the surface area of this green and pleasant land.
Unfortunately, some are not as green, nor pleasant (from a wildlife perspective, at least) as they used to be. A fondness for decking and paving in recent years might have made our gardens more barbecue-friendly but it has also spelled trouble for many an ecosystem.
A 2010 study of Greater London discovered a 26 per cent increase in the total area of hard surfaces in gardens over a nine-year period as well as a fall of 12 per cent in gardens’ total vegetated area. In an attempt to make our gardens more useful for us, we’ve made them less useful for animals.
Too tidy
Jon Traill, Living Landscapes Manager at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, says the quest for carefully manicured lawns and tidy borders disrupts the lives of critters – many of which thrive in more chaotic conditions. His advice? Stop being so garden proud.
“If you’ve got space in your garden, leave a bit wild where you dump all your leaves, twigs, or a pile of small logs that can rot down slowly. This is ideal for small mammals and insects to hide in and once located in the corner of the garden, can be left so no further maintenance is required.”
He offers similar guidance for anyone with an artificial lawn – another innovation that disrupts grass-dwelling creatures. “If you do need to have an artificial lawn, please leave somewhere for the wildlife. Maybe some patch of grass elsewhere in the garden.”
The decreasing size of new homes over the last 25 years is another reason why our wildlife is struggling: smaller homes, typically, mean smaller gardens.
According to a 2004 Joseph Rowntree Foundation study of more than 600 newly built homes, the average garden size was just 113m², which is 40 per cent smaller than the average across all homes. There is, quite simply, less space for flora and fauna to flourish.
“Gardens have got smaller because of pressure on housing space which makes it difficult from a wildlife point of view,” says Mr Traill. “It makes it even more critical that we try and connect garden habitats so wildlife can move from one garden to another.”
Hedgehogs, for example, need highways, routes which join up different gardens and keep them off the road. “A little hole in the bottom of a fence means a hedgehog can get through to feed and forage.”
Climate change
One of the biggest contributors to our changing gardens is climate change. “We’ve had two heatwaves so far this year,” says Mr Traill. “That stresses plants and animals.”
Unfortunately, it’s not just hot weather that is bad for our wildlife. According to Dr Laurence Jarvis, Science and Research Manager at Froglife, any extreme weather events have negative impacts on the nation’s frogs. “The cold weather in March caused the deaths of thousands of common frogs,” he says. “Dry periods of weather during the spring can also lead to ponds drying out more quickly than normal.”
It is worth noting that the state of our wildlife differs in rural and urban areas, although not in the way you might expect. Hedgehogs, for example, are in steeper decline in the countryside.
There is plenty you can do to make life better for wildlife in your garden
The reason for this is not clear although Mr Traill has a theory. “People are aware of the plight of hedgehogs and can do positive things in urban back gardens,” he explains. “In the countryside, hedgehogs have to rely on what food there is and there’s predator pressure.”
The reason for this is not clear although Mr Traill has a theory. “People are aware of the plight of hedgehogs and can do positive things in urban back gardens,” he explains. “In the countryside, hedgehogs have to rely on what food there is and there’s predator pressure.”
Not all bad news
It’s not all bad news: some species are thriving. The Red Admiral, which 30 years ago could only be spotted in the UK in the summer after spending the winter in the warmer climes of southern Europe, is now our most commonly seen winter butterfly. Not only that, its numbers have risen dramatically, up 242 per cent between 1976 and 2017.
Wood pigeons, too, have seen a staggering 952 per cent increase since 1979. Smaller-bodied birds such as blue tits and great tits have prospered, with increases of seven and 67 per cent respectively.
The condition of British wildlife is not a clear picture. But many birds, insects, and mammals that thrived a generation ago are struggling to adapt to modern gardens. From butterflies to beetles, hedgehogs to house sparrows, it’s up to us to protect the life in our gardens. According to Mr Triall, the situation is reversible if we all chip in.
In Mr Arnold’s view the wildlife in his garden may be different, but it isn’t any less abundant. “Yes there are changes – some bad but some good. A buzzard was a rare sight until 15 years ago and now few days go by where I don’t see a family group soaring above the garden.”
Jon Triall shares his top tips on how to entice more creatures into your own garden
- Have a “wild corner” where you dump old leaves, twigs, and logs. That’ll go a long way to helping wildlife.
- A bird nest box on the fence or on the wall is a good idea.
- Shrubs are great because they’re good for nesting and small mammals will live underneath.
- Water is critical for most wildlife, whether it be a simple bowl of water on the floor, a bird bath on a pedestal, or the ultimate – a pond. A good wildlife garden pond is ideal but some don’t have space. Some source of water is essential.
- If you do feed the birds at this time of year, be mindful that they will be trying to find enough food for their youngsters, too, so they’re looking for an easy feed. In hot weather it’s not ideal for them to expend lots of energy looking for food.
- If you’re trimming the lawn this weekend leave a couple of strips uncut. Long grass is ideal for butterflies and insects to hide in.
- Plant a range of different bushes, shrubs, and flowering plants. They allow animals to hide away and flowering plants mean there is lots of food for insects such as butterflies and bees.
The worrying damage modern gardens are doing to Britain's wildlife - iNews
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