Wildlife Corridors so Necessary

[nightshade]

I have been studying some maps of my local area,to locate possible bat roosts.
The roosts I have visited recently have large (bats are still getting rarer) pip colonies,along with unfortunately small even induvidual groups of even scarcer bats.
What they do have in common are stands of mature trees and tall hedges,the hedgerows
form corridors between these otherwise isolated stands,and are largely planted by gardeners One particular place has so many birds moving around in the cover of the hedges that it was difficult to know where to look next but at least one was a spotted woodpecker with young
Comparing older maps to their modern counterparts it is obvious that we are losing hedges and trees faster than we can replace them,many small holdings are now groups of character cottages with little or no garden ,hedging or anything else to support or supplement wildlife habitat or food supplies
The Springwatch program/Breathing Places BBC.co.uk Highlights a Lottery Funding for Environmental Groups,Parish Councils,Town councils etc. to get funding to create wildlife habitat or improve existing facilities.
Any of you already involved or have ideas to put before these groups to improve the wildlife corridors by planting hedging,turning part of the local memorial park into a wildlife haven/walk

[Alan]

I have to say in my are over recent years, there has been quite good attitude towards replanting hedgerows and larger areas of trees. There is in fact an ongoing scheme to create a continuas forest (freshney forest) that will eventually encircle a large area of the town. We moan about the ever increasing community charge, but such programmes are a result of this. Countryside and Urban wardens/tree wardens have also been recently appointed and intorduced into the mix, in order to catalogue local woodland resources and older single trees.

Not just the council are getting involved, but many landowners and farmers. Some of the areas out of town that I visit are also planting trees and improving many parts of the countryside.

So in this area at least, not all is bad!

[UB4 gardener]

my local council seem to like planting maidenhair trees round my way for some reason, in the autumn when the fruit is around, it constantly smells like dog poo.

What i am considering doing with our residents association, with an AGM coming up, is putting a display board together of the local wildlife (and plant choices) and guaging what the interest for each house planting a 1m (2m if I can) plot with native wild flowers/ nectar rich flowers. not quite worked out the logistics of costs etc yet. got to be worth a try.

[nightshade]

I sat and thought about what I had written,Then typed a proposal to my Town Council outlining a plan to use lottery money to improve the environmental appeal of my local memorial park (and some scrappy land nearby) then I printed it out and took it straight away to the council and handed it in personally I have planted an acorn but will it grow
If every member here does something plants a bush a tree makes a pond lobbies their council involves themselves with an environmental project that would be;
OVER 2000 trees shrubs or ponds enough (for now) to make a big difference somewhere

[Alan]

Good idea!

You want to see my back garden nightshade, half full of seedlings/saplings waiting for me to find a home for them! Oak, Ash, Hazel, Holly, Sallow, Dogwood and many more. Imagine if we all did this!

[UB4 gardener]

if its any consolation Alan, I have apple, buddliea,birch, hazel, hawthorn, holly, dog rose already in and small blackthorn, buckthorn, alder buckthorn, another hawthorn waiting to go in this autumn, and a half barrel with an oak growing nicely. sallow i think is going to be on the list for autumn too. Also quite a few native wildflowers, this picture has helped encourage at least 3 other people to plant at least some natives. (one even had Orange tip caterpillars this year, she was so chuffed)

Keep up the good work
Chris

[Alan]

Originally Posted by UB4 gardener

if its any consolation Alan, I have apple, buddliea,birch, hazel, hawthorn, holly, dog rose already in and small blackthorn, buckthorn, alder buckthorn, another hawthorn waiting to go in this autumn, and a half barrel with an oak growing nicely. sallow i think is going to be on the list for autumn too. Also quite a few native wildflowers, this picture has helped encourage at least 3 other people to plant at least some natives. (one even had Orange tip caterpillars this year, she was so chuffed)

Keep up the good work
Chris

Nice one Chris, looks like butterfly heaven to me

No need for consolation, if I had my way, I'd have a few acres full of native trees and plants ready to be transplanted into suitable areas!

[nightshade]

Hi Alan what a good idea! I potted up a lot of Hazel and Dogwood and gave them away to neighbours(see the thread a cunning plan) but it is a good idea to build a stock there is always someone to make use of them http://www.guerrillagardening.org/ lol