On Saturday, September 28 at the Methodist Church Kate Bradbury gave an interesting one hour talk on how to create a wildlife garden/meadow that attracts different species and insects. She has written two books, Wildlife Gardening and The Bumblebee Flies Anyway which were for sale.
It was very informative in terms of which flowers are best for bees – open single flowers which make it easy for the bees to get in – buttercups, dahlias and honeysuckle are also useful for them. Kate told the attentive audience (lots of scribbling) some useful tips.
One was an important issue concerning a pond in the garden. The sides should be sloping so hedgehogs, frogs and pond life can easily get in and out. A second point was to encourage caterpillars in meadows as blue tits collect them to feed their young. One chick needs up to 100 caterpillars a day for their first year to survive. Imagine if the brood is multiplied, sometimes by five times.
Kate explained that we have seen a decline in many of our favorite wildlife species, including butterflies, hedgehogs and bees due to habitat loss and encouraged people to provide new homes for a variety of insects, whether a small garden, balcony or allotment, whatever space is available.
Image Credits: Heidi Foster .