Hello, my name is Alex and I am a residential volunteer – a REZZIE – for the RSPB at Dearne Valley Old Moor in South Yorkshire. In my blogs I will guide you through step-by-step processes of designing and materialising your own haven for wildlife, all in the space of your gardens, allotments or balconies. This series of blogs will detail lots of different habitats to which you can give a boost in your gardens, including microhabitats.
It’s very easy in today’s world to forget what goes on around you daily, from the smallest things to the biggest and so, hopefully, this blog won’t just inspire you to build a home for nature but also help you to realise just how important every step is in the greater scale of wildlife conservation.
So, now all the introduction is over. Let’s get to it. Gardens are a space for many of us to rewind, relax and have a bit of fun during all four seasons of the year. To many, gardens are what makes home… home! Our wildlife on the other hand, see it as a vital resource and space for food, habitat and survival. But as time goes on, wildlife is finding it evermore challenging to fit in with the rapid expanse of urbanisation. Most areas now are turfed with artificial grass, non-native species of shrub are planted on new housing estates and houses are now being built with plastic eves which don’t rot and therefore species such as our much loved, noisy and threatened House Sparrow are struggling to find areas in which to nest and raise their young. On top of that, housing estates take up valuable room and are often build on important habitat land such as scrubland, which is a vital habitat for the very threatened willow tit and tree sparrow, and marshland which is vital for Snipe and Water Pipits along with insects and butterflies.
You may not be able to create and plant huge expanses of wild habitat for nature, but you can create micro-habitats for a select number of species that will benefit and hopefully thrive in the space of your garden. If you look closely at nature, a habitat and its inhabitants are usually based around what’s in the vegetation at ground level (i.e., moss, lichen, and soil type). Using that information from your own garden, you can find out which type of species of plant/wildflower will thrive, and what species that brings in, whether it be butterflies, bees, birds or mammals, there will be a home for everyone.
So join me on my journey as I roll up by sleeves and get stuck into a small part of the reserve entrance lawn that will make a BIG difference to the biodiversity of the area, creating a habitat for all the creepy crawlies, pond life, mammals and bird life.
ALEX the Rezzie
That little pond is looking great now it's got some water in it.
Volunteer Shaun welcomes visitors to RSPB Old Moor. He also writes a weekly blog about life at the reserve titled, "View From the Shed". He usually wears a big hat.