Wild Spaces - Making Space for Nature

It has been widely reported that the UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in Europe, and like many, I am deeply upset how this has been allowed to happen so rapidly in my lifetime. 

Since the 1970's almost 80% of our butterflies and numerous species of moth have gone into decline as a result of habitat loss, changes in agricultural practice, the overuse of pesticides and herbicides and climate change brought about by human activity. Alarmingly 50% of our butterfly species are now Red Listed.

Since the end of the Second World War we have lost 98% of our wildflower meadows and mile upon mile of native hedgerow. 

We have to halt this decline immediately and help nature to recover. It can be done. Nature is resilient and can prosper again if only humanity would realise that we are part of it and not superior to it.

To this end, Butterfly Conservation has launched its Wild Spaces project to make space for nature and to help it recover. 

What are Wild Spaces?

A Wild Space is one where butterflies and moths can complete their lifecycles. In other words a space where they feed, breed and shelter.

A Wild Space should be completely organic with NO pesticides or herbicides. Plants sourced should come from nurseries and garden centres that grow them in peat free composts. Wildflower seeds and plants should be sourced from growers as close to home as possible for local provenance. 

A Wild Space can be as large as Community Woodlands, School Grounds, Allotments and Village Greens, or as small as Street Verges, Gardens, Patios and Balconies. This really is a project that everyone can embrace and parents and grandparents should encourage children to be as active as possible in this scheme. They are, after all, future custodians of the natural world. I wouldn't be where I am now without the encouragement of my father and grandfather.

Of course, creating or adopting a Wild Space will benefit far more than butterflies and moths. Many other invertebrates, pollinators, birds and mammals will also reap the benefits.....and so will you. 

You will encourage more wildlife into your own little patch, you will get to know more about our native plants and you will begin to realise that they are not just weeds, and you will be in touch with the natural world throughout the seasons. Just 20 minutes in the presence of nature has a massive beneficial effect on ones mental well-being, and that has to be good.

To help you set up and register your own Wild Space visit the Butterfly Conservation website using the link below. To quote a leading supermarket chain; Every Little Helps. 

https://butterfly-conservation.org/wild-spaces

Best regards,

Richard M. Jeffery

Ivy and the Admiral.

 Ivy has to be one of the most maligned and misunderstood plants we encounter, but it is, without doubt, one of the most important autumn flowering plants around.

The arrival of autumn sees many of the summer-flowering plants of both garden and hedgerow start to produce seeds and fruit. This bodes well for birds looking to build up fat reserves to help them through the winter months, but what of the insects that are on the wing during the early autumn months? 

One of the most nectar rich plants that actually begins to flower as summer morphs into autumn is Ivy. Often regarded as too vigorous with an unfounded reputation for causing damage to walls and trees, Ivy supports a whole host of insects looking to refuel on a sunny day.

On the 25th of September I was drawn to the garden wall at the far end of the garden by the irregular movements of what I thought was a single Red Admiral butterfly. The wall is covered in several varieties of Ivy, but it is the native Ivy, Hedera helix, that was the subject of the attention of said Red Admiral. Bathed in sunshine, it proved to be host to 11 Red Admirals gorging on the nectar produced by the numerous flowers, and these were accompanied by 3 Comma butterflies and dozens of Ivy bees (Colletes hederae), wasps and various species of hoverfly. 

I was transfixed for quite some time by this autumn spectacle, and despite a few sporadic sunny intervals in the days since this encounter, it has never reached this level of activity again to date. 

It definitely is worth stopping on a sunny October day to investigate any established flowering Ivies be they on garden walls, climbing telegraph poles, scrambling through hedgerows or using larger trees for support. You will not be disappointed.

Richard M. Jeffery