Gardening for Biodiversity

One of the ways we are encouraging residents of betchworth, Buckland, Brockham and Box Hill to consider the idea of a Biodiversity Park is to sponsor a talk on the theme of ‘Gardening for Biodiversity’ to show how individuals themselves can make a positive impact on local wildlife. The talk is being given by Paul Ritchie, a local zoologist and nature activist who has, with his wife Clare, turned their garden into a nature reserve. They walk the talk when it comes to gardening in a way that is kind to nature and his talk is full of practical advice, experience based knowledge and inspiring ideas.

On Monday, Paul gave the second of his talks to an attentive and enthusiastic audience from the Box Hill community  During the meeting residents provided feedback on what they were already doing to help wildlife floursish in their gardens, through a questionnare. They were also intoduced to 5 different ‘biodiversity encouragement packs’ resourced through the biodiversity inititiative, designed to help residents undertake their own mini project to enhance biodiversity. I came away from the meeting thinking that if we could engage 30 residents in the same way in each of the four parts of the 4B parishes, we would have a fantastic foundation on which to build a Biodiversity Park.







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As a follow-up to his talk, Paul is offering residents the opportunity to visit his garden
to learn about permaculture, forest gardening and gardening for wildlife. Paul and his wife show us how we can enhance biodiversity and create an environment within which wildlife can flourish, while providing food for the table.  We are fortunate indeed to have residents in our area who can show, by example, how we might create our own acts of restorative kindness for nature.

Further dates for talk
May 29th Hamilton Room Betchworth
June 18th Reading Room Buckland

​Norman Jackson