Looking after your communal green spaces is an ideal way to aid the country’s wildlife and help in nature conservation. From keeping dedicated species spaces and breeding grounds to encouraging wild corners where you let the grass grow long, here are some top tips to conserve nature in your grounds.
1. Soft landscaping and restoration of land is an ideal way to encourage conservation. This is particularly important when taking on a commercial property. A good landscaping service should provide what’s called spatial diversity – essentially creating a whole spectrum of natural hotspots. This encourages interaction with different guests, from birds through bees. Explore Idverde for a host of fantastic soft and hard landscaping services.
2. Encouraging the wilderness to grow is actually very encouraging for insect species. Although we wouldn’t suggest overgrowing your green spaces entirely, it’s always good practice to keep your grass long in a few — if not more — areas to encourage wildflower growth and butterflies. This is especially important in the winter time, providing protection and allowing nature to do its thing. It’s also good practice to retain dead wood and old foliage, rather than clearing it entirely away. These are ideal for all manner of insects and for growing mosses and fungi.
3. Install bird boxes and feeding stations
Birds are more than just a pretty sight and sound; they are a vital part of a green space’s ecosystem. Of course, when you’re installing a bird station or box, you need to think about the possibility of cats (especially in a city). If cats are a potential issue, place your feeders among dense, covered bushes for cover and install your bird boxes in areas unapproachable and unclimbable for cats. Supplementary food like seeds and fat balls can provide a lifeline to many birds throughout the year. Butterflies also require breeding sites to lay their eggs and bushes like buckthorn provide ideal breeding grounds for them.
4. Think about sustainability when planning a green space, restoration or grounds maintenance. This includes everything from installing rainwater butts and barrels instead of using the tap to water features, buying native stock plants and not imported ones and recycling wherever possible. Furthermore, pesticides and chemicals should be avoided and instead replaces with non-toxic alternatives. Chemicals remove vital links in your green ecosystem’s food chain.
5. Consider a water feature, pond or smaller features as they attract local wildlife. It doesn’t have to be huge and can be worked into whatever landscape you are planning. In larger spaces, ponds are a real boon; in smaller places, buried buckets and troughs are fine. If you are working on creating a larger water feature, ensure that you have provided stones, branches and other such methods so wildlife to get both in and out of the water. When filling your pond, consider utilising unchlorinated rainwater. Positioning is also of vital importance for water life; you need a place that’s not directly sunny or shaded, but a mixture of the two.
