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Go wild in the garden for the insects, birds and mammals

Wild About Gardens

The BVGA continues to raise awareness about the importance of gardens in Braunston for wildlife. You may have attended the talk about hedgehogs, or enjoyed the wildlife friendly gardens during Open Gardens. Perhaps you bought open flowered plants from the plant stall or peat free compost from the Garden Store.

We would like to encourage you to plant for wildlife in your Braunston gardens. The BVGA looks after the Jubilee Garden and Village Hall car park borders and planters. The Jubilee Garden is great for wildlife with plenty of cover and some secret places, especially for insects.

The RHS is urging people to grow a Secret Garden for Butterflies, creating a new ‘butterfly border’, or a ‘butterfly box’. These offer nectar-rich planting for adult butterflies and larval food plants for their young, while also creating a contemplative space to observe nature.  

They say,“The best thing we gardeners can do is think about the whole life cycle, so we are creating feeding grounds for caterpillars, butterflies and everything else that depends on them. This doesn’t mean sacrificing your whole garden, but perhaps allowing an area that could support a new generation of butterflies, but which may also feed hungry baby birds.” Download your free butterfly gardening guide from the RHS website and add your garden to the UK-wide digital map. 

The Wildlife Trusts say that due to the overuse of pesticides and habitat loss 41% of insects face extinction. That's why your garden is so important and can provide a valuable home for wildlife. There are plenty of ways you can make your garden bug friendly; from the plants you choose to setting aside a special section to grow wild. How about building an insect hotel? Check out the Wildlife Trust website for clearly explained ideas about how to ‘Go wild in your garden’.

Plant Life would like you to do a lawn survey of a flower count for pollinators.

Together, in Braunston, we can make a difference.

The negative impacts of Climate Change on the wildlife means that we need to act now.

As Braunston residents are automatically members of the BVGA we would love to hear about the things you are doing to be

WILD ABOUT GARDENS

Send photographs and we will post them on the BVGA page of the Braunston website or go straight to the Bugle and post them there and encourage others to join in.

If your garden is already a haven then why not think about

  • Volunteerng with the BVGA to maintain the Village Hall gardens (contact Kate Mawer)  
  • Volunteering with Braunston School to support their gardening and Forest School initiatives
  • Volunteering with Jetty Field Association to maintain the conservation areas of the Pocket Park and garden
  • Volunteering with Braunston Cubs who maintain a garden outside The Den and work towards their gardening badge.

Follow these links to discover great practical ideas

Wildlife Trust

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/gardening

Royal Horticultural Society

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/wildlife-garden

Plant Life

https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk

Look at the lovely wildflowers that we can enjoy in our gardens. We are always adding to this gallery of photographs to show how Braunston is going wild in the garden. Send your photogarphs to Kate Mawer (see contacts) to share on the website.

Butterfly Conservation.

Check out these two Citizen Science initiatives.

Big Butterfly Count, the world’s biggest survey of butterflies. https://www.bigbutterflycount.org/  This is a nationwide survey aimed at helping to assess the health of our environment. Go along to the website or App to find all the information.  It only takes 15 minutes of your time on a bright weather day to do a survey. You can do as many as you like in as many different places during the dates of the survey.

Or go to the Butterfly Conservation website and join the Citizen Science project at https://butterfly-conservation.org/

 

Gallery

Click to enlarge
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