As part of gardening for wildlife, I try and keep up with pertinent developments in science and knowledge. I admit I'm not very good at it - background reading barely gets a look in during the summer when the garden is just too enticing. But I know winter must be close at hand because I've started to notice relevant stories.

The one that caught my eye this week was the study by the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology, who published the results of what sound like some important long term studies.

One was looking at how well nectar plants enjoyed by bees are doing in semi-wild areas of the countryside between 1990 and 2007. It found that the number of nectar plant species had declined over that period, thought to be due to the flowers being crowded out by more competitive species. This is thought to be due to a lack of countryside management and from the fertilising effect of air pollution. [The photo is of course one from my collection and not from today, but I quite enjoyed revisiting this Carder Bee guzzling at Viper's Bugloss in my garden in 2007.]

The second study looked at whether there was a change in plant diversity on a large number of study plots between 1998 and 2007, and found that on average the number of plants in each plot decreased by 1.4 species.

These are the kind of countryside changes that are too subtle to spot with the naked eye as we go about our daily lives. And I'm not going to start claiming Armageddon is upon us because of it. But I do find these things are like little warning bells. And I do think that it makes what we do as wildlife gardeners all the more important - if the landscape is becoming more impoverished, to work hard to ensure that our gardens are becoming richer, and to spread the message that these things matter, seems vital work.

  • Interesting information and comments which I do agree with.

    Just to mention a (sort of) related subject, until recently our local council used to go round spraying the grass on estates and along many of the road-sides and country lanes. When I was a child, the grass outside our street was covered in buttercups, daisies and red and white clover, the hedgerows bloomed with primroses, loosestrife and many other wild flowers. Then as I grew up, there were no flowers to be seen. Since I moved back to the area 12 years ago I am happy to see the gradual return of these untamed flowering areas.

  • I think they are right in thinking that unexplained drop has something to do with nutrient levels - nearby new road schemes where the embankments are nutrient poor have the opposite effect.

    over the last 20 - 30 years I have been occasionally longing for a traffic jam so I can get a better look at whats growing! The spread of Gorse and Mullen are not a problem at 60mph but the arrival small things like orchids is frustrating.  The big drawback is the amount of birds of prey like owls that are drawn to this 'oasis' and get killed.