I saw an advert on TV today and must say I thought it very inspiring. Great to see an advert for something positive, easy and free, rather than just more consumerism (or on-line gambling, or loans for people who can't afford loans ...). It also references Kevin Costner's Field of Dreams: "if you build it, they will come".
The RSPB campaign
Give Nature a Home encourages everyone to take a few simple steps to encourage wildlife back into their garden. Having visited their website I'm also impressed by the simple project ideas, with step by step instructions that anyone can follow with little or no cost and just an hour or so spare.
With the best / hottest / sunniest weekend of the year so far looming, it's given me plenty of ideas of things to do ...
PS. 17th July 2013
Pleased to report that my bug hotel is now constructed (see below), and I have also been providing food and water to the birds in this hotel weather. I'm also thrilled that a pair of mice have taken up residence in my compost heap! I went to harvest some compost as a mulch for my potatoes yesterday, and they popped out to say 'hello'. When you think about it, I guess it makes quite a good home - the plastic bin shelters them from rain, wind and predators, it is nice and warm, and they get a fresh supply of food scraps every day. What more could a mouse want?!
It was a fairly small group of six delegates - all of us beginners - so there was plenty of opportunity for questions without feeling too stupid. A large part of the course was spent on bat features and identification. After a picnic lunch in the garden, there was the chance to put this into practice during a practical 'test' using key features to identify the different British species. This was mostly straight-forward (just a couple of the trickier ones needed a second look) - though no doubt it would be much harder with live specimens that don't want to be held and measured!
