Hedgehog having a drink

Creating more wildlife friendly gardens

 Gardens play a key role in wildlife conservation and by making a few small changes to the way we garden, we can provide homes, shelter, food and breeding spots for many of our struggling British species.

The Wildlife Garden Directory was set up by Wildlife Garden Project CIC. We believe every garden should be a wildlife garden, but we know that not everyone has the time, ability or energy to garden for themselves. That’s why we set up this directory, to make it quick and easy to find a local wildlife-friendly gardener, designer or landscaper to create a haven for both you and nature. At the same time, we want to promote and celebrate gardening businesses that use wildlife-friendly methods, and connect them with customers in their area.

Why did we create the Wildlife Garden Directory?

When Laura founded the Wildlife Garden Project in 2010, her aim was to provide easy to understand information and inspiration to help more people create a wildlife friendly garden. Aware that not everyone was able to garden for themselves, she began playing with the idea of a directory to connect those who are unable to garden for themselves with wildlife gardening businesses in their area.

This idea was cemented when she met Tina, who joined the Wildlife Garden Project CIC as a director in 2021. Tina was trying to find a gardener to look after her elderly mother’s garden when she was no longer able to garden for herself. She struggled to find anyone local to her who understood wildlife-friendly gardening methods, and how much watching the birds and insects meant to her mother.

Part of the problem was that many wildlife-friendly gardening businesses are small and can’t compete online with larger gardening and landscaping companies. By developing the Wildlife Garden Directory, we want to give those businesses a platform to promote themselves and be found by customers in their area who share their values. We aim to encourage more gardeners to think about the methods they use, and ultimately change them to more wildlife friendly methods.

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Can you help us on our mission to create more wildlife gardens across the UK?

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Our team

The Directory was set up by Wildlife Garden Project CIC, who provide the information and inspiration for you to create your own little haven for wildlife, right in your back garden. On our website, you can get practical advice and information on Wildlife Gardening, and learn new tips and techniques in our tutorial videos.

The Wildlife Garden Directory is another key step in our mission to create more and more wildlife-friendly gardens across the UK.

 

Laura Turner, Director Wildlife Garden Project CIC

Laura Turner, Director

Laura is a filmmaker who shoots, edits, and has a passion for the natural world. She started the Wildlife Garden Project in 2010 with the hope of inspiring as many people as possible to help the wildlife in their local area through wildlife-friendly gardening.

Laura has worked on conservation documentaries in Australia, big cat safaris in Kenya and most recently edited a feature length film, Britain’s Hidden Fishes by Jack Perks, about the UK’s often forgotten fish. Laura also runs her own video production company, Fuzzfox, making videos for charities and businesses as well as educational videos for kids.

As well as making our video tutorials, she spends her time working on our websites, projects and campaigns. 

Tina Lindsay, Director Wildlife Garden Project CICy

Tina Lindsay, Director

One of Tina’s first memories is looking for worms to measure and race, wearing wellies and Spiderman PJs. Thanks to her mum, she discovered her lifelong love – birds. Growing up, she wanted to be feral – chasing, exploring, discovering and learning at every opportunity. She’s travelled widely from Costa Rica to Borneo, and had some remarkable adventures – however, she’s now completely content sharing space with the wild things in the UK, being as captivated as ever.

In the past 12 years, Tina has worked for Froglife, spent four years as Events, Lectures & Authors Coordinator for The British Birdwatching Fair (Birdfair), and as Campaign Manager for Chris Packham’s UK Bioblitz. Currently, she’s working with Wild Justice and other groups, projects, campaigns and naturalists, and is really excited to be part of the Wildlife Garden Project team.

Tom Shields, Director Wildlife Garden Project CICy

Tom Shields, Director

Tom works in agriculture, but in his free time enjoys all things wildlifey, especially birds and moths. He runs moth traps all around Nottinghamshire, becoming obsessed with them during the summer months.

He’s also a licensed bird ringer, mainly monitoring birds in his garden, but also monitoring Tawny and Barn Owls around South Nottingham. He has a very wild garden, which thrives mainly on neglect!

Our Ambassadors

We are honoured to have the support of three gardening legends, Kate Bradbury, Green Fingered George and Capability Charlotte.

Kate Bradbury

‘‘Gardening for wildlife is not only increasing in popularity but increasing in importance, as our gardens become refuges for wildlife in a changing climate. Having a directory of wildlife-friendly gardeners who know how to create and maintain beautiful gardens while supporting wildlife will not only make our gardens nicer places to be, but will hopefully create wildlife corridors all over the UK. What a brilliant idea!’’

Kate Bradbury

Green Fingered George

‘’Whatever the size of your garden, creating a home for wildlife is like building your own nature reserve. It’s hard work, but incredibly rewarding; just sit back and ‘Listen to the pretty sound of music as she flies’ (Mother Nature’s Son by The Beatles). I love the idea of the Wildlife Garden Directory; a place that hooks up gardeners with people who need a bit of help, making it easier for everyone to have a wildlife friendly garden.”

Green Fingered George

Capability Charlotte

”I love introducing wildlife friendly gardening into people’s spaces and helping people discover that they’re making a difference not just to nature, but also their own health and wellbeing. Regardless of how big or small, messy or neat, there’s always a big way we can help the little things. Having a Directory where people can list and search for wildlife friendly gardeners is a much needed resource, I’m delighted to support it!”

www.capabilitycharlotte.com

The people and organisations who made the directory possible

We would like to extend our enormous thanks to the following people and organisations who have helped in the development of this website:

East Midlands Chamber and UK Community Renewal Fund (UKCRF), who provided us with funding for the development of this website, delivered through the East Midlands Accelerator project.

Dave Seaton and Simon Miles from Hello Panda who worked tirelessly to develop this website.

Lindsey Bowes, who provided most of the photos on this website, taken in her wildlife garden. You can view her beautiful photos on her Flickr site.

Colin Marshall from Living World Education who created our logo and additional graphic resources.

Huge thanks to you all!

Create your own haven for wildlife

If you’d like to learn more about wildlife gardening, visit Wildlife Garden Project CIC where you can learn how to provide food, shelter and breeding spots for the wildlife in your garden. You’ll find practical advice and information on Wildlife Gardening and learn new tips and techniques in our tutorial videos.

Make sure you follow us on our social media pages too so you don’t miss anything!

 

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