Have you signed up YOUR garden?
(July ’25 from Parish Online)
We are creating a nature network, with wildlife corridors connecting all the areas. We already have the river and a railway line, which are excellent wildlife corridors, plus all the Duxford Parish green spaces, but the biggest win for nature would be to have a continuous network of gardens signed up.
If you already have, or are willing to include, some or all of the wildlife friendly points below, and would like to join this exciting project, please send a mail to info@friendsofduxfordgreenspaces.org, and we will add your garden to the map.
Click this link to download or view the latest version of the Duxford Nature Network Map
Encourage wildlife into your garden:
WATER (the No.1 draw for wildlife)
– Wildlife pond of any size (bucket, barrel or bowl, preferably without fish)
– Boggy/wet area
– Bird bath
FOOD
– Bird-feeding station (sited away from any nesting boxes)
– Flowers high in nectar/pollen (e.g.: lavender, foxgloves, buddleia)
– Fruit trees or berry-bearing shrubs
– Some perennials left uncut until spring
– Vegetable patch/container
– Herb garden or growing herbs
HABITAT/ SHELTER
– Dead wood / log / stone pile
– Leave a ‘messy corner” undisturbed
– Climbing plants (e.g. Ivy, Honeysuckle, Clematis)
– Mixed native* hedge (e.g. Oak, Hazel, Hawthorn, Blackthorn)
– Mature tree/s
– Some lawn left to grow long all season
– Wild flower patch
– Bird/ bat/ hedgehog boxes
– Bee/Insect hotel
– Dry hedge (made from twigs and branches)
MANAGEMENT OF YOUR GARDEN
– Never use pesticides or toxic slug pellets
– Avoid chemical weed killers
– Garden organically if you can
– Compost bin, compost heap and/or wormery
– Rain butt to save water
– Buy only peat-free compost
– Hedgehog access/transit through garden boundaries
*Native flowers, shrubs and trees support many more species for both food and habitat than most of the non-native varieties
Find lots of amazing information and advice from the Wildlife Trust here
All photographs on this page taken by Gillian Heath