We’re hoping to supercharge our local biodiversity in the coming years by creating a patchwork nature reserve – creating nature-friendly patches in our community green spaces and household gardens.

Have you got a patch of land you could devote to boost biodiversity? Even if it’s only a square metre or a window box, every little counts. Click here for the top tips on gardening for wildlife that we were promoting at last years Gala Day on how to make your garden more nature-friendly.

Over the coming weeks we’re hoping to:

• Map the land already given over to nature and conservation (such as St Mary’s Fields and Lyne Rd Green)
• Identify other public land or community spaces that could be adapted for this purpose
• Encourage members of the village to develop wild habitats in their own gardens and to log these.
• Set a target for increasing the land given over locally to encouraging wildlife.

Could you be a part of this? And/or would you like to be part of the team moving this dream to a reality?

If so please email Rhiannon via kidlington@wildoxfordshire.org.uk

What does a Nature Friendly Garden look like?

It doesn’t have to be the whole garden that’s left “to go wild” (a common misconception). We are celebrating gardens that help nature out and increase local biodiversity. It could be that you have a wildlife friendly pond – one that’s sunken and accessible to amphibians and safe for hedgehogs to drink from – or that you have a mini meadow area or native, insect friendly plants in your borders. You might have an excellent log pile or an undisturbed area for hibernating animals or lots of water dishes out for creatures to drink from, not forgetting hedgehog highway gaps! And of course, gardening without using chemicals toxic to wildlife such as insecticides, herbicides, or pesticides. There are lots of ways to either make your whole garden, or a part of it, great for our local wildlife. Keep an eye on the Kidlington News and the KEG Facebook page for monthly garden wildlife jobs and tips.