Gardening for Wildlife Awards
This year’s annual garden show saw the first ever presentation of the WAL Gardening for Wildlife awards. The two beautifully crafted trophies – made by three local artists working collaboratively – are now in the possession of our two amazing winners. The standard of entries was truly inspiring. Each had its own special qualities, so our panel had a hard time deciding on the winners. In the end, the final decisions were unanimous.
The entries included:
• A wildlife pond
• Replacing habitat for local birds
• A garden designed with climate and wildlife in mind
• Native hedging to replace non-native trees
• A boundary with spaces designed for a variety of local wildlife
• A mini garden
• A bug hotel
• An allotment pond
The adult award was won by Dayle Byers, who had created a wildlife pond in her Glebelands garden. This project won our hearts because of the amazing impact it has had on the garden, on the wildlife, and on the wider family. This wildlife pond may be a small pond in a small garden but abundant wildlife has moved in, bringing pleasure and delight.
The children’s award was won by Saffie Maytum who had created a mini-garden for insects. Saffie’s mini-garden was really well designed so that it would be attractive to bees, and a flowering moss was added, as well as a mini-pond. Though very small, it has been carefully placed in an area of the garden where nearby plants will help to attract the bees, butterflies and other insects, to call in for food, a drink, and even a quick bath.
Thank you to everyone who took part this year for all your amazing actions for wildlife. Your entries showed how every small change we make for wildlife can have a big impact!
A special thank you goes to our three local artists for creating the awards:
John Welton who turned and finished the wooden bases using local oak; Mai Targett (Welton), who fashioned the beautiful wire wrens; and Charlotte Belcher, who used her pyrography skills to burn in our WAL logo and the name of the award.
We hope you had a chance to read all the entries, and that you will be inspired to start your own small change for wildlife in your Lympstone garden.
Maybe you could be next year’s winner!
Bug hotel naming ceremony
We decided the community bug hotel, that we created back in July, should have an official naming and opening ceremony! Sophie and Jacs Cocks created a beautiful nameplate, and a group of us gathered on the meadow opposite the church to celebrate the moment when it was added to the bug hotel.
Do send us an email, or post on our Wild About Lympstone Wildlife Watch page, if you pass by and spot any buglife moving in!
Save the date
Our next wildlife wellbeing walk will be on Sunday 15th November. Further details will be sent out nearer the time. If you want to receive our occasional emails, just contact us at wildaboutlympstone@gmail.com and we’ll add you to the list.
Rebecca Abrahams and Mary Turner
www.lympstone.org/clubs-socities/wildabout-lympstone
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildAboutLympstone
