What a bloomin’ marvellous community!

Friday 3 November 2023

Heathland Heroes

https://www.facebook.com/worcestershirewildlifetrust

We are creating the county's largest block of heathland and connecting 600 acres of habitat. Our Saving Worcestershire's Heathland's Project Officer, Beccy Somers, brings you the latest news and information from this amazing project.

Josie's garden by Beccy Somers

Beccy discovers the wonderful wildlife gardens of Birchen Coppice...

I was recently invited to be a judge on a community competition called Neighbourhood in Bloom which had multiple categories including a wildlife gardening category. David, who is the sustainability officer for Community Housing, and I had the arduous job of visiting people’s gardens to see all the amazing things they had been doing for wildlife. It was so wonderful to see how each garden had been lovingly adapted to not only look beautiful but support nature as well! Gardens varied in shape, size and age and as any gardener will know, you have to learn what works in your garden. Due to the amount of fantastic variety, we just couldn’t compare them fairly so we decided to give everyone a well-deserved prize!

Haven of habitats prize - Pete and Kathy

Pete and Kathy stood with their prize — Kathy collecting her prize from Dave

Their garden was absolutely full of wonderful places for wildlife to find shelter, food and water. They have created a wildlife haven in the middle of Birchen Coppice estate. They have done a wonderful job of planting native hedging when they first moved in 30 years ago, which has now created huge corridors of shelter and food for wildlife. Their collection of fruit trees and their easy access pond provides even more food and water.

Kathy and Pete's garden pond by Beccy Sommers

Best for bees prize - Josie

Josie’s garden was full of flowers for every season so there's always a source of food for insects. There was shelter in the form of log piles and shallow dishes of water available. Josie won some wildflower seeds so will be adding a wildflower meadow next!

A view of Josie's wildlife garden by Beccy Somers

Paradise of possibilities prize - Paul and Sue

Paula and Sue collecting their award from Beccy

Paul and Sue’s garden was surrounded by woodland and a neighbouring wild area and they had lots of ideas of how to work with this surrounding landscape and sandy soil to create more opportunities for wildlife in their garden. They had put lots of thought into it, leaving areas to go wild that were already being used by insects. They will be upcycling an old washing up bowl for a pond and will allow their back garden, bordering the wood, to go wild to create a nice buffer between their garden and the woods.

Best family garden - Sarah and family

Sarah's family with prize — Sarah's family collecting their prize from Dave

Sarah and her children have worked together to thoughtfully transform their garden in 3 years from an unloved patch of land to a haven for wildlife. The children have put so much thought into each area of the garden with a wildflower meadow in one corner, insect hotels hidden away wherever you look, leaf litter left to rot under the hedges and ramps in their pond.