Next steps on the wildlife garden

The pond is now full of water and all that is left to do on its construction is to bank the edges and cover the liner. It is important that wildlife friendly ponds have at least one shallow side allowing frogs and other animals to exit more easily. Our pond has a couple of ledges in it too which will be used for planting and will also make great homes for animals especially when we have put in a few small stone piles to create hidey-holes.

Volunteers have been planting bulbs under the trees. Spring bulbs are an early nectar source for emerging bees but most of them need to planted in autumn time for the best results.

We have also put in some good leaf compost on our newly dug beds which will give the plants a good head start when we plant them in the spring. Hopefully we will have a few frosts over the winter which will break the soil down, making it more crumbly and easier to work with next year.

Early wildlife sightings in the garden

The last couple of weeks have been really busy in the wildlife garden with features such as our raised nectar-bed taking shape and the pond being dug out and lined.

The front garden is also taking shape, which is designed to show that if you have a car you can park it in front of your house without the need for a concrete drive. Front gardens are disappearing from urban areas at an alarming rate which means there are fewer places for wildlife to shelter and feed. Hard surfaces on front drives can also contribute to flash flooding, which has hit the news in London in recent months with drains and sewers not able to cope with all the rain water run-off.

We have had a couple of unusual sightings in the garden over the last couple of weeks as well. Firstly we saw a Pipistrelle bat flying around the front garden area at around 11am one warm morning. It's unusual to see a bat fly at that time of day and it's possible it had been disturbed from a roost elsewhere and was looking for a new spot to tuck into for the winter. We have also had sightings of a male Pheasant in the garden which is pretty unusual for Regent's Park. Perhaps word has got out that there's an exciting new place for wildlife in the heart of London!

School classes have been learning about some of the declining wildlife in London. Pupils from St Joseph's RC School have drawn up ideas for planting plans to attract bees and some colourful posters to show what they have learnt.

The garden begins!

Well the Regent's Park community wildlife garden is finally underway! Our contractors have begun to lay the paths that will eventually lead people through the garden and we have had our first group of volunteers in, helping to build a loggery for stag beetles and to plant a wildlife friendly hedge in the front garden area.

Over the coming months the garden will be built and planted with help from a large number of people from the local community. The aim is that visitors to the garden will come across loads of simple ideas to attract and support wildlife, which they can take away and use at home.

We'll use this blog to keep you up to date with what is happening during the garden's construction and to let you know how you can get involved. If you want to find out more then just give us an e-mail.