‘Never has there been a more important time to invest in our wildlife here in the UK’ David Attenborough - ’Wild Isles’
It was this quote that struck me when I realised what great things Congleton Town Council are doing this year for their planned biodiversity schedule. The event is led by Ruth Burgess, Streetscape Manager as part of Congleton Town Council climate emergency agenda.
The launch date will be on Tuesday 6th April 11am -1pm at Stirling Close, Congleton.Huge thanks to the organising team. This will be a much needed boost for our pollinators and indeed for the entire ecosystem on which we all rely here in Congleton. I will explain why in this letter. The event will be free of charge where residents can learn how to hedge-lay and den-build, and how to create log piles and habitats for your own garden, plus creation of wildlife friendly gardens on your own doorstep, with discussions around the benefits of wildflower and tree planting. Children are very welcome to attend as this will be during the Easter break. We are extremely fortunate to be able to benefit from this free educational session. It will benefit Congleton residents to learn the reasons behind this work as well as assisting everyone to understand the importance of nature and why we must learn to embrace it. It is perhaps trite to say that plants are fundamental to the ecosystems that they and a variety of other species inhabit. Along with a variety of other roles, plants provide the food and shelter for an array of insects and birds. So enriching the plant life within Congleton is not only significant in itself, but should lead to knock-on benefits throughout the ecosystem.Most importantly, residents will be able to learn about the benefits of wildflowers.
Over the last 50 years we have lost around 98% of our wildflower meadows - these natural sites were important wildlife rich habitats, teaming with biodiversity. Wildflowers provide important food for our native insects, not only nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies and moths but also caterpillars that feed on the plants. Insects may seem small and insignificant but actually have a huge impact on the world in which we live. Without insects we would lose most of our food. Fruits, vegetables and nuts all need to be pollinated before they will produce any crop. Without these insect populations our food supply is essentially under threat. Once a significant feature of the British landscape, wildflowers are now becoming more and more scarce, which in turn is having an impact on our native insect populations. Swathes of mown grass, huge fields of a single species, road verges sprayed by herbicide, and hedges pulled up – all this has reduced the natural feeding, breeding and living areas of our native insect species. This in turn has a knock on effect, as many of our favourite birds feed on insects, and hedgehogs too are mainly insectivores as are bats. Ancient grasslands contain rare species of orchids, tiny wildflowers like milkwort, colourful fungi like wax caps and field ants. With only tiny pockets of land left, pollinators like bees need to fly further afield to get food, and some species become isolated and windows for breeding opportunities become difficult.
For all these reasons, I give my full support to any work being carried out in order to boost biodiversity. As a keen gardener as well as conservationist I will be at this event on behalf of Congleton Plant Swap and Gardening for Wildlife. I look forward to meeting residents and talking about any aspects of wildlife. Many thanks Lisa miller Congleton Green Party