After a harsh and extremely long winter, spring has finally sprung in the wildlife garden down at RSPB Fairburn Ings!
This was confirmed by the welcome sound of the chiff chaff. Planting has been taking place with a vengeance. Including shrubs that will not only provide shelter but also food in the form of nectar and/or berries. We’ve chosen Viburnum, Escallonia, Berberis and Hebe – all of which are widely available and come in an array of varieties to best suit your own space. For those of you who have visited the reserve recently you may have noticed our new rockery which is now all planted up with lovely alpines such as Aubretia and Saxifrage.
In addition to these new rockery plants we are really hoping that newts might use the spaces between the rocks which is why we sited it near to the pond. We also hope it shows that no matter how small the space you have, you can still be creative and introduce new habitats. We got our new plants from Wolinskis nurseries in Shadwell who very kindly gave us a discount so a big thank you to them for stepping up for nature. They have some great plants down there with the wildlife friendly ones being clearly marked.
We’ve also sown some wildflower seeds – native varieties are always best. This creates some of the best nectar sources for our pollinators and is so easy to do – you can even sow some in pots and the beauty of it is they need very little maintenance – just the occasional water. If you’re feeling a bit more ambitious why don’t you create a small meadow area in your lawn – it will look fabulous, be invaluable for insects and best of all, saves on the mowing!
Finally we have planted up some of our own veggies. We have chosen Broad beans and Runner Beans, due to the bee-attracting flowers they provide.
Did you know...people are actually dependent on insects? They are needed to pollinate our food crops, so it is crucial we do all we can to conserve these little wonders.
Come see for your self, see what else we have to offer here at the RSPB, or log on to www.rspb.org.uk/fairburnings for more information.
Kindest regards
Louise and Teresa