Linking Life and Landscape
The Loddon and Eversley Project wants people to be able to enjoy wildlife wherever they are: whether in the garden, the local park, on a walk in the countryside or even on the journey to work.
We all know that for animals, birds and plants to survive they need the right places in which to live, but sadly, during the last century, the extent of our most precious and valuable wildlife habitats was vastly reduced and sites became fragmented, isolated and damaged. As a consequence many of us have become accustomed to the idea that we need to visit nature reserves in order to see anything special. But this doesn’t need to be so. There is still life out there; sometimes thriving, sometimes just hanging on! North east Hampshire is particularly rich in ancient woodlands which can support a multitude of species. Ancient landscape features such as ditches, woodbanks, pollarded trees, hedgerows and earth banks are a valuable asset both in terms of the diversity they provide to our landscape and also to the creatures and organisms that make their homes in them.
Our own gardens are a fantastic wildlife resource. Did you know that gardens amount to some 25% of the urban land cover? Imagine them all sensitively managed for wildlife. And that is the crux of the matter; we need to be sensitive in our management of the landscape. Put another way, we need to link life and landscape! Firstly we need to make the link in our minds between what we see and what wildlife needs and then we need to make physical links. For example a well managed hedgerow with a good mix of native species could be just what is needed to link two small woodlands which are otherwise isolated. Your garden could be part of an urban green corridor linking to the wider countryside.
The Loddon and Eversley Project aims to work with the local community towards linking life and landscape in north-east Hampshire.
