Did you know? The Earth’s land and the ocean serve as natural carbon sinks, absorbing large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. Conserving and restoring natural spaces, and the biodiversity they contain, is essential for limiting emissions and adapting to climate change, as shown in the amazing A World Full of Life film produced by schools on Wirral.
There are lots of things we can do as individuals to create and enhance the green spaces we have on Wirral. They can also have the added benefit of reducing flood risk, improving air quality and providing habitat, corridors and food for wildlife. See our tips below:
Avoid paving over your front garden
Green spaces act as natural sponges, soaking up water and helping to keep it from entering our homes. The creation of more natural flood management will assist our efforts to reduce flood risk across Wirral.
If you are lucky enough to own a front garden, then try to avoid paving over it. Front gardens can help tackle climate change by capturing carbon and help to deal with hotter and wetter weather. They can also enhance our quality of life by creating a more attractive environment.
If you car is out frequently during the day, consider planting between the wheel tracks of your driveway. Plants such as Creeping Jenny, Bugle and some Thymes such as Thymus serpyllum don’t mind the occasional knock and can thrive in the driest conditions.
If you do want to pave over your front garden, then opt or a permeable surface that allows rainwater to soak into the ground, such as porous poured surfaces, gravel, or permeable block paving.
Make a wildlife area in your garden
Your outdoor area may already provide food, shelter and breeding sites for a wide range of animals throughout the year. Installing a shallow source of water, such as a pond or water feature can increase the wildlife interest in an outdoor space. The RSPB have advice on how to plan, build and maintain a pond that’s great for wildlife here.
Take part in campaigns such as Hedgehog Street in Wirral that support wildlife in. For example, you could develop an area with thick dense undergrowth and a variety of grass, create holes in your fence to help the hedgehogs move between gardens, and ensure you check under any bonfires before use to help keep these threatened species safe.
The Wildlife Trusts and the RHS set up Wild About Gardens to celebrate wildlife gardening and to encourage people to use their gardens to help support nature. View your free guide to wildlife gardening tips and tricks.
Encourage pollinators and bees
Pollinators are a variety of species that are responsible for the pollination or fertilisation of crops, flowers and other plant species, with a third of food crops being totally reliant on bee pollination.
No Mow May encourages everyone to do nothing for the month of May when it comes to mowing. May is an important establishing year for the flowering plants our pollinators are so reliant on. So giving them a chance to grow during May helps give our bees and pollinators all the nectar they need to be happy, healthy and energised for pollinating our crop plants. Visit Plantlife's website for host of resources and guidance for how you could get involved in No Mow May and to spread the word.
Other way of helping pollinators such as bees including building a small bee hotel in your garden. These provide shelter for those species that prefer to be solitary, boosting their numbers in our gardens and helping to pollinate all the plants required for healthy ecosystems and food production.
Recognition of the value of bees and pollinators means that Wirral Council takes part in No Mow May each year, has set out pollinator sites, and developed the Pollinator Strategy 2022-2030 to support sustainable pollinator populations on Wirral.
Help out with Community Planting
If you are just starting on your gardening journey and need a bit of help, or are experienced and want to meet like-minded people or share your skills with others, there are plenty of community gardening groups within Wirral that you can get involved with. There are additional benefits as gardening has also been shown to improve our physical and mental health too! Here are just a few organisations that run planting sessions in Wirral.
Tree Planting
Did you know that Wirral through the Tree, hedgerow and woodland strategy, Wirral Council has an ambitious target to plant 210,000 trees across the Borough by 2030? Tree planting is a great way to capture carbon from the air, as well as delivering many other benefits such as providing food and habitat for wildlife, and reducing flood risk.
Why not collect a tree from the Council and plant it on your land or garden, or collect seeds from local trees and grow your own? Don’t worry if you don’t have the space. During planting season, between November and March, Wirral Council runs community planting events where you can volunteer to help Wirral reach its target of doubling its tree canopy by 2030.
Even if you can’t plant a tree, then try to avoid cutting down any trees already established in your garden. Older trees are much more efficient in capturing carbon and should be protected.
Avoid peat or take up composting
Peatlands are incredibly large stores of carbon and vital ecosystems. However large-scale removal across Europe for use in gardens is destroying this. Peat alternatives are available in most garden centres and DIY stores, or you can make you own compost.