How Do You Fit In? Green corridors

[nightshade]

I have been plotting the green corridors around my home to see just how my small
garden fits in (Bats you know)
Google earth shows that I am a little island albeit a very green one compared to my neighbours but it also shows how few trees or hedges are left in private gardens around me.I have planted eight trees since we moved in and my neighbours have removed almost the same number
How does your little haven stand as part of the mosaic that substitutes for countryside now?

[Wild-Woman]

Not too bad for an estate. We are angled so that our gardens run out into a field, the field to a wood and then country park. So relatively lucky.

[goosey]

I envy you your eight trees nightshade and thank goodness people like you are doing their bit to encourage and keep wildlife around your area - not enough it seems! While others seem to be doing the opposite. Where I live is the same. It is so sad to see every bit of green diminishing more and more new housing being tightly packed in. Our old neighbour died two years ago, the first thing the new owners did was cut down two conifers a beautiful large apple tree and a huge forsythia to build an extension. Two doors down cut down a fir tree and a horse chestnut. Last winter we saw none of the green finches siskins or black caps that came other years. It doesn't matter how much wildlife friendly planting I do, I can not replace trees I have no room for, and even if I could they would take tens of years to get to those stages again. It is like banging your head a gainst a brick wall - plenty round here to chose from.

I hope you get your bats .

[Kerry]

Last year someone came round trying to sell aerial photos of our place back in the 60's. Back then it was a barren wasteland of overgrazed fields with tiny hacked back to nothing hedgerows. Seeing that photo made me realise just how much my place has come on since then: wide areas all round the land left fallow that is colonising naturally with trees and bushes, a large piece of the land given over to a wildlife pond that we dug out - this area has gone from over grazed grass to a mass of trees, thistles, nettles, brambles, etc and teams with birds, amphibians and insects. The hedgerows have gone from 5 feet tall to over 8 feet tall and are always alive with birds - the Whitethroats are always a delight to have nesting here. The farmers think that we are mad to waste all that land and I have realised that there is just no point in trying to explain it to them, as they just don't comprehend anything other than profit and loss. Oh to have the money to buy masses more land and be able to do the same.

Talking of buying masses more land and doing the same, does anyone know how the forest is coming on that the magazine magnet was creating in the midlands? (sorry to hijack the thread!)

[nightshade]

Half the farmers I know ,are despite the hard knocks they have recieved over recent
years,very involved with wildlife frequently phoning about Bats and growing cereal and wild seed plants in set aside for birds their generosity of spirit has allowed large areas of green corridor to thrive

[Kerry]

Originally Posted by nightshade

Half the farmers I know ,are despite the hard knocks they have recieved over recent
years,very involved with wildlife frequently phoning about Bats and growing cereal and wild seed plants in set aside for birds their generosity of spirit has allowed large areas of green corridor to thrive

I must know the other half.

[naturelover]

as you all must know the fens is very green and wildlife friendly.When we moved here two years ago our garden was all decking patio and gravel,very flat,i have changed all that with lots of greenary,ivy round the pond,two trees,lots of shrubs and pots of this and that,also i have a water feature,the lady that lived here befor us put bleach tablets in to keep the water clear,well its still clear but with lumps of algi,dont bother me its wildlife friendly now with yellow flags at the sides,was hoping to get some frogs but they cant get in as there is a wall all the way round,only about four bricks high with a shaped edge on top,any ideas what i can do to encorage frogs in

[Kerry]

Originally Posted by naturelover

as you all must know the fens is very green and wildlife friendly.When we moved here two years ago our garden was all decking patio and gravel,very flat,i have changed all that with lots of greenary,ivy round the pond,two trees,lots of shrubs and pots of this and that,also i have a water feature,the lady that lived here befor us put bleach tablets in to keep the water clear,well its still clear but with lumps of algi,dont bother me its wildlife friendly now with yellow flags at the sides,was hoping to get some frogs but they cant get in as there is a wall all the way round,only about four bricks high with a shaped edge on top,any ideas what i can do to encorage frogs in

Have you thought about the rolls of log edging that garden centres sell: you could drape it from the floor up over the bricks and down to the water, with some stones situated in the water so that they could have easy access to get out and on to the log roll.

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by Kerry

Have you thought about the rolls of log edging that garden centres sell: you could drape it from the floor up over the bricks and down to the water, with some stones situated in the water so that they could have easy access to get out and on to the log roll.

May be a good solution - however the wood is likely to have been pressure treated with some pretty toxic chemicals and there is the possibilty that these could leach and build up in a pond.

CM

[Kerry]

Originally Posted by Cotham Marble

May be a good solution - however the wood is likely to have been pressure treated with some pretty toxic chemicals and there is the possibilty that these could leach and build up in a pond.

CM

You are right and I only thought of that after I had posted it. Perhaps if there is a friendly tree surgeon nearby they might make something similar that hadn't been treated.