The Wildlife Garden

The slushy mess on the roads and pavements was a grim reminder of the thick carpet of snow that had covered everything only a few days earlier; not really snow, ice or water, something that even Eskimos probably don't have a word for, apart from 'unpleasant'. Where children had been busy making a snowman, there were now only a few shapeless lumps of snow, reluctant to finally melt and disappear. Pebbles which had been used to make the snowman's eyes and a carrot, the nose, now lay forgotten in a jumbled heap on the ground. In my garden, the rapid thaw was most welcome. Not only had the snow flattened plants and caused hardship for all the animals, it made even the simplest of tasks, such as changing the water in the bird-bath, an extremely disagreeable, finger-numbing experience.

At least a blanket of snow does have a positive side - it shows just how effective the regular feeding of birds is. The birds know that there will always be food available for them in my garden, so they don't have to waste their energy searching around for odd scraps. Even when the snow was at its worst, they hardly showed any signs of panic, although it was not all sweetness and light; starlings squabbled incessantly, whilst waiting their turn to have a bath and the resident blackbirds spent all their time chasing off the upstart thrushes that dared to snatch a morsel of food from 'their' garden. As the snow disappeared, so did the starlings, returning to fields and hedgerows, whilst squirrels once again proved that my 'squirrel-proof' feeders were merely a figment of the manufacturer's imagination.

You would think that times like these are proof, if proof is needed, of the value of wildlife gardening, but have I been deluding myself all these years? Is feeding the birds, planting bee plants, putting up nest boxes and all the other wildlife-friendly actions I take, nothing more than a sop to the conscience of a city dweller, whose home had destroyed a far more valuable wildlife habitat when it was built? Is my wildlife garden nothing more than a third-rate imitation of the countryside and wouldn't I be simply better off saving all the money I had spent on plants and donating it to a charity which preserves tracts of heath and woodland?

These sobering thoughts came bubbling up to the surface after reading a letter I had recently received from an expert on moths. I originally contacted him with a request for information on how wildlife gardeners could attract moths into their gardens - an innocent enough request, or so I thought at the time. However, the letter I received contained nothing short of a diatribe against the whole concept of wildlife gardening.
His argument was that gardeners tend not to grow the native species which encourage moths - mostly large woodland trees such as birch, oak and willow. These also need to be grown in groups rather than individually and most gardens, he wrote, are simply not large enough to do this. Even if gardeners are willing to grow native species and have the space to plant groups of trees, any insects that might breed there would be isolated from other breeding populations, leading to in-breeding and eventual extinction. He also thought that if gardens were to prove at all useful to insect populations, they should replicate the local species of wild plants and once established, should be maintained this way.

Basically, he considered wildlife gardening futile, but then went on to say how his garden was a veritable haven for insects. I am sure part of what he says is true. Garden size is important. A pair of tawny owls require a territory of at least 20 hectares (49 acres) when it is a mixture of woodland and open ground, while hedgehogs need an area of around 9 hectares (22 acres) to find sufficient food. But tawny owls don't just live in woodlands anymore, many have moved into suburban areas, surviving off a diet of bats, frogs and sleeping birds. The gardens at Buckingham Palace might not be large enough (16 hectares/39 acres) to maintain a pair of tawny owls, but in its grounds, there were found to be 343 species of butterflies and moths, about 10% of all British lepidoptera. Even in a relatively small suburban Leicestershire garden, 88 types of parasitic wasps alone were found during an intensive study of the insect population.

Animals can of course move around and whether it is birds, butterflies or hedgehogs, although they might not find sufficient food in one garden, they may nevertheless use it as a refueling stop. Recently published work carried out at the University of Sheffield showed that during August, honey bees would fly from their hive located near the centre of Sheffield, up to 10km (6miles) to collect nectar from heather plants growing on the local moors. It would appear that such behaviour is not unusual for honey bees located within an urban area; they might have to regularly fly considerable distances to find good forage plants. So, if you have a good source of nectar in your garden, who knows how far some of the bees may have traveled?

Even if our individual gardens aren't as large as the one at Buckingham Palace, up and down the country they do cover a huge area. Wouldn't it be foolish to dismiss all this land and the efforts made by countless wildlife gardeners who make their gardens wildlife friendly, as completely worthless? And let's face it, living in gardens is the only option available for much of our wildlife these days, in our overcrowded island.

Jack Daw

Old River Limb

Old River Limb, pay heed to him
as did our fathers a'fore,
when he told kings where their writs ran
and thus lay down the law.

Old River Limb, go walk with him
and wonder at his ways,
where Saxon trees and Saxon flowers
have blown since Saxon days.

Where men have milled, and made from wood
and forged and mined and toiled,
made their whitecoal and rest their soul
ne'er the land despoiled.

Old River Limb, take care of him
- it's late but not too late,
for round his lands are careless hands
that scrabble at his gate.

Anon

Garden rescue

Recently a friend asked me whether I had seen the forgotten garden near the entrance of Whirlow Brook Park. I live on Limb Lane and do a lot of running in the area, but had to say no. So you can imagine my surprise when he led me into the beautiful, but little-known Whinfell Quarry Garden.

This ornamental quarry garden is a mix of steep paths and steps, a cascade of rock pools, planted with rare shrubs and trees, including bamboo and Japanese acers, flowering cherries, rhododendrons and conifers. It also has one of my favourite plants - the giant leafed Gunnera. Intrigued, I found out a bit more about the garden.

The garden was part of Whinfell House, which was built in 1902 by Samuel Doncaster. The house and garden passed to Mr Friedrick Neill in 1933. Following the death of Mr Neill, the gardens were presented to the city in 1968. Whinfell house was destroyed by fire in 1971 and flats have subsequently been built on what was the site of the house and the paddocks.

Sheffield City Council now owns the garden, but they don't have the staff to carry out more than a basic path-clearing exercise once a year, so that in recent years it has suffered from a severe lack of maintenance and has fallen into disrepair. The paths are overgrown and the railing around the paths is rotten in parts. Invasive plants (e.g. Japanese Knotwood) have become established and if left unchecked they will rapidly invade the garden.

I am keen to encourage the process of renovating the garden into a wonderful grotto that is safe for local people to use. So as a first step, I organised a working party of neighbours for the weekend of February 17th/18th to begin to clear the paths, repair the fencing, cut back the overgrown shrubs. This is a start, but the more support we can get, the better.

Would you be interested in helping on future weekends? Would you be interested in sponsoring a tree or shrub, or in making a donation for the hire of equipment? Could you help by taking rubbish to the tip or as part of a team that will look into managing the garden in the future?
Please give me a ring on 235 3858 or e-mail me at glyn@smythsheff.freeserve.co.uk And if you have never seen the gardens, please take the time to have a look. Many Thanks.

Glyn Smyth

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