The other day, while taking rubbish out to the bins, I heard a repeated thumping noise inside the greenhouse. I slid open the door and found five birds inside: three male blackbirds and two smaller birds, of the same species, which I did not recognise. The following day, my wife saw two more in there, one of them a wren. Have others had similar experiences?
Why were they in there and how did they get in? All that was left inside the greenhouse was some parsley and chives; nothing obvious to attract them. The sliding door had been just a few inches open. Some louvre windows near the ground were vaguely ajar. It would have required ingenuity, skill and persistence to get in, and it was clear they had not worked out how to get out.
As for the unidentified pair of birds, my consultation of various old bird books suggested they may possibly have been corn buntings. But like the blackbirds, I chivvied them out too quickly to examine them closely. One thing was for sure; they were not the usual garden birds.
This is the benefit of living next to fields that are being deliberately “biodiversified”, with connectivity from farmland and woodland to a garden environment. A wider selection of birds and insects will make an appearance. Just this morning we saw at least eight different butterflies and moths fluttering about in great abundance, both within the garden and beyond it in fields. BBOWT’s Guide to Finding Butterflies & Day-Flying Moths has helped to identify some of them.
So it was with great disappointment that I read the Planning Inspectorate’s “main modifications” to the Area Action Plan (AAP) for the Salt Cross Garden Village. Quite apart from the Inspectors’ summary dismissal of the high standards of construction that “Building with Nature” would require, and which the District Council quite rightly had included in the AAP, they have seriously undermined connectivity by the inclusion of just six words.
The AAP policy on green infrastructure had said “around 50% of the area to form the overall green infrastructure network”. To this the Inspectors have added “(including private gardens and green roofs)”. At first glance, that might not seem too significant. But you cannot rely on every household to keep their gardens green. Quite understandably, they may want to pave them over for a patio or extra parking; or put down gravel or an impermeable surface because they don’t enjoy or have time for gardening. They may also want to keep them neat and tidy, and therefore not so wildlife-friendly.
At the same time, green roofs – a good idea in theory – should not necessarily be installed at the expense of built-in solar panels. One way and another, those six words make the 50% look unachievable. The developers, too, may chip away at the target in order to maximise their profits. The prospects for connectivity for nature north of the A40 are not looking as good as they were. Let’s hope the Inspectors are open to persuasion during the next consultation, which will be some time this summer.