Gardens vital for wildlife
DID you know that you can make a difference to the region’s wildlife in your own back garden?
If you make your garden wildlife friendly and 10 of your neighbours do the same, you have made an area where birds and other creatures can ‘network.’
If lots of people in other streets do the same then your town or district becomes a pretty handy nature reserve, allowing wildlife to move around and meet new friends and, well, I don’t have to spell it out in a family newspaper.
It doesn’t take too much effort to create flowerbeds, buy a bird-feeder or create wildlife-friendly log piles.
All these simple touches help to provide places where bees and butterflies can land or where birds can seek food.
I was only speaking to a lovely Rochdale woman last week who informed me that she is seeing jays in her garden for the first time.
That’s because she has made the effort to make her garden wildlifefriendly.
Wildlife networks are vitally important and gardens are vital parts in the network.
A new survey led by Manchester Metropolitan University called My Back Yard is proving the importance of your own space to wildlife.
Gardens make up 20 per cent of Manchester’s land and the university is trying to find just how green they are. They are using satellite images to collect this data but they also want information from residents too. You can see some of the survey results at http:// mybackyard.org.uk/ results.php
The project is being led by the university with the University of Leicester, in collaboration with The Mersey Forest, Manchester council, City of Trees, Southway Housing Trust and, of course, our Wildlife Trust. It is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.
If you complete the survey you could win £500 in shopping vouchers from a prize draw. Log on to www.mybackyard.co. uk. The survey is open until the end of December 2016. »●To become a member of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside go to the website at www.lancswt.org.uk or call 01772 324129.