NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Not 400m from my house is a modest-sized allotment that has the good fortune to be looked after by a number of wildlife friendly gardeners. A small team (led by one particular keen and amiable enthusiast) have dedicated part of the land towards the benefit of the local flora and fauna. Wild flower planting, nesting boxes, bee-hives, bird feeders, insect houses and a pond are just a few of the actions put in place. Happily I have been granted a key and will attempt to visit this Banstead allotment at least once a week to monitor what appears throughout 2019. A brief recce this morning provided a small list of 'wild' plants (mostly what could be termed as garden weeds), a modest number of birds (which did include the much-reduced Greenfinch) and one mammal - a Grey Squirrel. It is heartening to see such a community-led project that has already reaped great rewards. More throughout the year...

If you have a garden, but not a water feature within it, then I urge you to put that right this summer. It doesn't have to be a pond  - a sunken or stand-alone sink will suffice - plant it up and sit back to await a whole wealth of wildlife that will make a bee-line for your watery offering. Our own pond is small, some six feet at its widest. When we moved here (pre-children) the pond was already a living thing, full of newts and frogs, damselflies and dragonflies. When our first daughter was born we filled it in as a safety precaution. When our second daughter stopped toddling we excavated the infill, relined it and filled the resulting hole with water. Within an hour a pond skater was on the water surface and the air above was full of gnats. It didn't take long for the wildlife to find it. I ensured that a few shelves were built into the pond's construction and placed planted containers full of Pendulous Sedge, Water Mint, Marsh Marigold, Greater Spearwort and wat...

I have an increasing worry that very soon, the only places where we can hope to see wildlife (beyond the stinging nettle - blue tit - large white suite of common species) are going to be nature reserves. These will be behind fences, the other side of ditches or out-of-bounds to us all together. As unprotected land is either built upon, ploughed up, left to scrub over or not managed for its special inhabitants, so the area that is left in the UK that is able to support a varied wildlife will contract. This will mean that natural corridors for wildlife to move along to re-colonise abandoned areas or re-invigorate a shrinking gene pool will be closed for good. What 'good' land is left will struggle to maintain healthy populations. It all seems so likely and so depressing. Most recent atlas's published for our wildlife seems to tell the same story - of contracting range and of threatened populations. Some of this however may be skewed by my living in the south. No doubt if you ...