Supporting Nature Neighbours
We are excited to be supporting Essex Wildlife Trust’s Nature Neighbours campaign, encouraging people to invite wildlife including pollinators, toads and hedgehogs into their gardens or green spaces by following their easy DIY guides and then plotting their actions on virtual maps.
Bees, butterflies, beetles, ants and many other bugs are busy pollinating flowers but also our food crops. Without them, our ability to produce food would be significantly impacted. Over the last year, the very wet weather has badly impacted numbers of pollinators and so it is vital we try to give them extra support in the coming months. This is why we are supporting Essex Wildlife Trust’s Nature Neighbours campaign as there is more we can do at our stable yards and in our gardens or outside space, however small.
Over the winter months, bugs search for hiding places and food sources to keep them going until spring. An undisturbed habitat pile made of logs, twigs, fallen leaves and other natural materials is ideal for providing a safe space for pollinators to lay their eggs and hide away for the winter. Selecting a sheltered area of the garden or yard, ideally near a hedge will help protect the pile from more extreme weather conditions. Building a bug hotel is easy and can be made out of items already found around the home or yard such as twigs and old supplement tubs. For those who aren’t handy with DIY, bug and bee hotels can also be purchased through nature discovery centres.
Not only do pollinators have to deal with harsher conditions over the winter months, their food source of nectar rich flowers become much harder to come by. Although pollinator activity is much lower over the winter, some species will still remain active. Providing autumn or winter plants in the garden such as ivy, snowdrops and crocuses can help support pollinators with vital food resources.
Although a spring and summer flowering plant, the alfalfa which we grow for our horse feed produces abundant floral nectar which is excellent forage for bees and other pollinators. The Lattice Heath Moth is particularly partial to alfalfa and can be seen in great numbers around our farmers fields. As we leave the alfalfa in the ground over winter, it also provides excellent winter ground cover for birds and insects. Alfalfa is recognised worldwide as being a great habitat for an enormous diversity of insect species and buying feeds that include alfalfa is another way you can help support biodiversity; scientists have observed over 1000 species of insects living or feeding in alfalfa fields.
For further information on Essex Wildlife Trust’s Nature Neighbours campaign or to pledge your support click here.