June 2006
Green Fingers Can Help Slow The Impact Of Climate Change
Britain's gardeners are being asked to rethink their gardens to help mitigate the impacts of climate change on our wildlife.
More than a million species in the world are in danger from a warmer planet, including many of the UK's birds and other creatures expected to lose feeding and breeding grounds. This is due to the onset of warmer, drier summers and wetter, stormier winters.
Experts such as English Nature have long warned that nature reserves will not help protect threatened species because habitats will shift with the weather. Now they are appealing to gardeners, whose land covers a greater area than all the special reserves.
Global warming is already causing problems for wildlife as the plants, flowers and insects that many animals and birds feed upon and nest in are shifting their habitat and changing breeding patterns.
British birds are already showing signs of being seriously affected by the changing climate: 2004 was the worst breeding season on record for many seabirds, while the decline in farmland and woodland birds is at least partly attributed to changing weather patterns. There is particular concern for northern species, which have less territory to move into as they seek cooler climates.
'Wildlife gardening' (making gardens more welcoming to wild creatures) is becoming increasingly popular amongst conservationists as a means of providing new habitats between breeding areas. Among the tips suggested by English Nature is planting pollen-rich and bell-shaped plants for bees, colourful flowers to attract butterflies, leaving log and leaf piles for hedgehogs, and abandoning the slug pellets. Creating boggy areas or ponds can also help amphibian species (one third of which are said to be threatened) and also bats which feed off the insects found in these areas.
The British Trust for Ornithology has also issued detailed advice for gardeners wanting to provide habitats for birds, including how to put out a variety of food in different places throughout the year. For example, people can attract large birds with nutrients left on the lawn, secrete cheese and seed under shrubs for robins and put black sunflower seed, premium-grade peanuts and sunflower hearts in feeders for finches, tits and sparrows. Plants with berries provide food for birds in late autumn and early winter, and evergreen shrubs offer cover for nests, or other places for birds to hide from predators. They also run the Garden Birdwatch project to assist in stimulating research into declining species.
Each gardener and patch of land might seem too small to solve a global problem, but collectively there is potential to make a significant difference. The total area of UK gardens is also greater than all the national nature reserves.
One problem the conservationists must overcome, though, is a perception that wildlife gardening is messy and looks unsightly, although experts point out that attracting species which eat pests is a way of naturally protecting flowers, shrubs and trees. Another, perhaps, is a tendency for gardeners to lure the most attractive and interesting creatures - ignoring 'the importance or plight of other less attractive or entertaining creatures
Another issue highlighted by Gardening for Wildlife - and English Nature - is the need for gardeners to use less water. Tips include using water butts to collect rain, covering flowerbeds with bark or compost to stop them drying, allowing lawns to go brown if necessary and planting drought-resistant plants and grass.
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