Following the brilliant talk last Saturday with Mark Schofield from Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, here are some actions for wildlife you might like to take this month:
1. Sow some Wildflower seeds
Here are two local, sustainable seed suppliers for wildflowers, meadow mixes, plants and saplings:
Naturescape naturescape.co.uk
Emorsgate wildseed.co.uk
A Yorkshire adult care provider who supplies plants of Yorkshire provenance:
Myers Beck miresbeck.co.uk
Additional suppliers who may also have wildflower seeds of UK provenance:
Boston Seeds bostonseeds.com
John Chambers johnchamberswildflowers.co.uk
2. Plan a Wildflower meadow
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust’s Wildflower Hub has downloadable guides and instructional videos on meadow making and management:
lincstrust.org.uk/wildlife/wildlife-gardening/wildflower-hub
3. Create a Pond
A wildlife pond is one of the single best features for attracting new wildlife to the garden, and winter is the perfect time to establish a new pond. Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust provides instructions for how to build a pond and how to create a mini-pond if you only have a small amount of space.
4. Wash bird feeders
According to Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, we need to “clean feeders and feeding sites regularly using warm soapy water or 5% disinfectant, especially in the months between January and May. Make sure to rinse any disinfectant off thoroughly and always allow feeders to air-dry completely before adding food.” More details and a video on their website.
5. Leave the berries!
Berries and rosehips are a vital source of food for hungry birds at this time of year. If you prune native hedges every third year instead of every year, it dramatically increases the number of berries they produce.
6. Oppose the use of neonicotinoids
Here is a link to the online petition and the Wildlife Trust’s views on the recent change of DEFRA policy regarding neonicotinoids:
wildlifetrusts.org/news/bad-news-bees-government-reverses-ban-bee-killing-neonicotinoids
What’s next?
If you missed this talk, not to worry – there are more coming up and the focus on biodiversity will continue to stay high on our agenda.
Our next online event for Incredible Edible in Lincolnshire on 1st Feb has an urban focus – we’ll be talking to five of the growing projects going on already in Lincoln, with details on how to get involved and time for questions. As always, everyone is welcome – if you eat, you’re in!
Details of this and other future events here: lincolnfoodpartnership.org/incredible-edible-in-lincolnshire/
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