The Thames Estuary is one of the UK’s biggest development sites at the moment with thousands of new homes planned for this stretch of marshland, but actually it is already a home to millions of creatures, albeit ones you can barely see. There are in fact 7,500 different species of insects calling this part of the UK home, including scores of rare insects. And this amazing biodiversity has, for a change, been helped by mankind’s propensity for dumping waste products. Marshes, covered with industrial waste such as ash have burst out with grassland and scrub supporting an astonishing number of species.
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The UK Biodiversity Action Plan, the UK’s early-warning system for species at risk of extinction has been enlarged with a raft of new plants and animals, it was reported in The Guardian. The list, which is updated every ten years, has more than doubled to 1,149 at-risk species since the last review even though some species have been taken off since 1997 as their numbers have been stabilised and are no longer considered at risk.
The house sparrow, harvest mouse, cuckoo, garden tiger moth, grass snake and hedgehog have all been added with the hope that habitat loss and decline in numbers can be halted within three years.
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The weather may have been less than ideal for you and me this summer, but for slugs it’s been perfect – warm and wet! This has caused record numbers of the beasties in gardens and crops throughout the UK, with estimates of numbers up to 15 billion. Research this year suggests this figure is a 50% increase on previous years and could rise even more if the weather continues wet and warm, as long-range forecasts indicate.
The period of hot, dry weather which we usually see at some point during the summer kills off a large number of slugs before the harvest season, but as this hasn’t happened this year, wheat crops could be affected. Conventional farmers are using twice as many slug pesticides as normal. As for the rest of us, join me in my twilight prowl round my garden, picking off the slugs by hand!
See BBC News for further information.
If, like many people you prefer your own listening choice on the way to work or while out for a walk, but don’t always fancy music or radio, then podcasts are for you. And there’s so many out there to choose from! But here is one you really should tune in to: The Alternative Kitchen Garden is the brainchild of Emma Cooper, a writer and podcaster who lives in Oxfordshire with her husband Pete and their two hens.
Her podcasts, blog and articles are friendly, informative and very readable. A keen organic gardener, Emma has been growing food for five years and has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience to share. Covering everything from gardening books, compost, famous botanic gardens, keeping chickens and updates on how her own plants are growing, it is like a having a friend to chat to about urban gardening.
If you have an interest in wilderness living, survival skills and primitive crafts and technology, then this is the show for you. Now a three day event, the Wilderness Gathering at Bush Farm, West Knoyle, Wiltshire is now in its fifth year. Running between the 30th August and 2nd September, the price of this family-oriented event remains the same as the previous years’ two day events.
There are masterclasses in skills as varied as arrow-making, tracking, wild food and moving silently in the landscape, and you can also learn how to procure and purify water, know your trees, fish, make shelters and herbal tea making.
Various Bushcraft and Survival businesses have stands, and for the children there is the Coyote Kids Club running events throughout the weekend. The Food Court includes drinks by the Sussex Cider Man, which should be something to look forward to.
This really is a unique event and deserves to be a great success. Maybe you should join in.
Despite some of the country experiencing glorious sunshine this weekend, it’s already being suggested that this will become known as the "year with no summer". Experts in many agricultural fields have been commenting on the signs of autumn coming. Blackberries are ripening, conkers are falling, holly berries are red and mushrooms are springing up. Ian Johnson, of the National Farmers’ Union has expresed his concern in The Telegraph that global warming will increasingly mean such weather disturbances affecting crops unpredictably.
This year’s early harvest is partly due to one of the hottest springs on record which set plants flowering early and animals breeding and migrating sooner than usual.
However, according to Met Office forecasts, we shouldn’t despair yet, as they hint at some hotter, drier weather yet to come in the latter half of August. What that will mean for fruits and crops already ripening ahead of schedule will remain to be seen. We will also have to wait and see if this year’s unpredictable weather is part of a pattern of global warming weather fluctuations or merely a one-off aberration.
Most people automatically put their daily newspaper straight into the recycle bin once they've read it, but if you're a gardener there's another way you can use them. This Paper Potter gadget allows you to make little biodegradable seedling pots from strips of newspaper. Once the young plants have hardened you can transfer them, in their paper pots, into bigger pots or straight into the ground without damaging their roots, and the paper pots simply degrade. It's a good way to introduce kids to sustainable living, while getting them involved in green gardening techniques. The Paper Potter is made from 100% FSC certified wood and is available from ECOutlet.
Related: More plants and gardens
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