The Rewilding and Wildlife Gardening group continues apace. First, our best wishes for a continued speedy recovery to David. More than anything else this goes to show that the work we are doing is worth it, not only in terms of preserving the planet for future generations but also so that we can go about our daily lives in safety. David and others are looking at Rewilding, Wildlifing, Tree Planting and Verges. From the top, here is my flaky understanding about what this is all about.
Rewilding means returning things to their wild state. OK so far … so that’s mainly uplands, where centuries of sheepfarming have led us to believe that bare patches and treeless valleys are the ways things are meant to be, when in fact they are completely artificial. Tim Birch from the Wildlife Trust showed us a very powerful photo last year of a hillside, as it is on one side and as it used to be/should be without sheep damage on the other, with a fence down the middle. A sort of green version of a Persil advert. It certainly made me sit up and rethink. Planting many, many trees is a vital part of that and Bamford have successfully planted hundreds, with the subsequent care package in place to keep them alive. I understand only about eight have been lost despite the very dry and unseasonal weather. Way to go, Bamford! Other villages are following suit, involving locals and schoolchildren and generally making an impact and having fun at the same time. One big recurring point is taking care to preserve habitats though, and planting the right kinds of trees for the terrain.
Now wildlifing, that’s different. You can’t rewild your garden because it wasn’t wild in the first place. But you can restructure it a bit, take brick walls out and replace them with dry stone ones and hedges, plant animal corridors so furry friends can scuttle about without having to cross huge arid plains otherwise known as your lawn, plant bee friendly flowers to make bee corridors (this seems to be all about corridors) and install ponds. I am giving it a go in my, loosely described, garden or wilderness. It’s coming on really nicely.
Thanks also to Scharlie for some really heartwarming information on biodiverse verges. The notion of Derbyshire verges looking like that is so exciting I am on the point of squeaking. There are quite a few people who have registered an interest in joining a scheme and the Council seem to be behind it too. Next summer might be dazzling. I hope so!
