Housebuilder Barratt London and the RSPB have launched ‘Nature on Your Doorstep’, a project designed to inspire and advise everyone on how to turn their outdoor spaces into havens for wildlife – whether it be a garden, balcony, or community green space.
This project comes after a year in lockdown caused many to rediscover and rejoice in local nature. In 2020 alone, over 1.7 million people sought advice from the RSPB website on how to make their garden more wildlife-friendly, and in January the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch saw a record-breaking one million people take part in counting the birds in their garden.
The importance of the outdoors to our own health is reflected by the Mental Health Foundation choosing ‘Nature’ for the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week in recognition of how nature helped people through the pandemic.
From today, visitors to Nature on Your Doorstep will be able to access:
· How-to gardening guides
· Easy step-by-step videos
· Seasonal gardening advice
· An online community dedicated to bringing people together to ask questions, seek advice, and share their successes (and learning experiences)
Already available are four of the ten ‘Wildlife Action’ articles and how-to videos from Adrian Thomas, the RSPB’s wildlife gardening expert. The first articles, entitled ‘The best plants for wildlife’ and ‘Just add water’, talk people through how to find their green fingers and the importance of water for wildlife. Visitors to the page will also be able to sign up to receive a monthly newsletter full of useful tips and tricks.
Over the next three years the project will continue to grow into a go-to place for gardening for wildlife. The project will host everything from customisable content to seasonal advice across the four nations, as well as conducting research into what drives or prevents people from welcoming wildlife to their outside spaces and investigating how to empower local communities to make shared spaces a home for wildlife.
Adrian Thomas, the RSPB’s wildlife gardening expert, said: “Our local wildlife has been an incredible source of comfort over the past year of isolation and uncertainty, and we’re so thrilled to see people wanting to help nature in return. With Nature on Your Doorstep, we want to provide a place for everyone to learn from each other, ask questions, and be inspired to do more.”
“Gardens can provide a crucial lifeline for struggling species. Seven out of eight households in Britain have a garden, and that is a huge patchwork of potential homes for nature. To that hungry butterfly, or that weather-beaten bird looking for a place to roost, just one garden can make all the difference. If we all work together to transform our gardens, we can truly revive our world.”
Pam Reardon, Sales and Marketing Director at Barratt East London, said: “We want to empower people to give nature a home, by creating an online community for them to learn and to share their experiences, giving them digital tools which they can take into the garden to get their hands dirty. This is all about helping homeowners to turn their garden into havens for wildlife.”
The RSPB and Barratt Developments have been working together since 2014 to show how new homes can help nature and support wildlife. Their support has allowed the RSPB to breathe new life into its wildlife-friendly gardening work through the creation of Nature on Your Doorstep.
To turn your patch into paradise for you and your wildlife, please go to www.rspb.org.uk/yourdoorstep
For more information about Barratt London visit www.barrattlondon.com or call 0330 057 6666.