Yorkshire Wildlife Trust ’s Post

Glorious, colourful wildflower meadows, alive with the buzzing of bees and the flutter of butterflies, are an iconic part of our landscape here in the UK 🌸 But did you know wildflower meadows aren't just pretty, they're also hugely important as they support a wealth of flowers, insects, and other animals? 🦇 🐾 These incredibly diverse habitats are a vital part of our ecosystems. When wildflower meadows vanish, so do pollinators and other insects, and in turn the animals that eat these insects, such as birds, hedgehogs and bats. We have lost 97% of our wildflower meadows since the 1930s, but here at The Future Forest Company, we are working hard to reverse that trend. 🌱 Join us on our mission to plant wildflowers and restore the UK’s wildflower meadows today by sponsoring nature restoration - https://lnkd.in/ezwsP5M3

Ranchers are stewarding our Western heritage of vast skies, beautiful rangelands, and room to roam. 🤠 At its core, SGI, as part of Working Lands for Wildlife, is about having conversations at kitchen tables to discuss what works best for the people who live on and use the land. We understand the importance of flexibility and the commitment it takes to build trust and credibility. Grazing lands support a wealth of wildlife, while also producing our nation's food and fiber. Wildlife-friendly ranching practices that keep sagebrush ranges healthy and productive include: 1️⃣ Defend relatively uninvaded sagebrush cores from annual grass conversion and expand them through restoration 2️⃣ Restoring wet meadows or creeks to improve water availability 3️⃣ Removing woody species like juniper and pinyon-pine to improve forage and habitat Read ranchers' real-life success stories here: https://buff.ly/4dDrzbd

#NoMowMay is just the beginning — let's embrace wilder gardens and land all year long 🌼 As we approach the end of #NoMowMay, let's carry the momentum forward and keep our gardens and land wilder all year-round. One of the simplest and most impactful steps you can take is to let your grass and wildflowers grow a bit longer. By cutting or scything it just a few times a year, you'll provide birds and insects with flowers and seedheads that change throughout the seasons. This variety is essential for wildlife to thrive. Many large-scale rewilding projects introduce grazers, such as wild ponies and bison, on a rotational basis to enhance landscape diversity and attract different species. By varying your mowing patterns, you can mimic a natural grazing process and boost biodiversity in your backyard. If a complete rewilding transformation feels too daunting, start small. Extend the principles of #rewilding into the rest of the year and gradually reduce mowing frequency. 💡 Feeling inspired to #RewildYourGarden? Head to our website for more tips and inspiration: https://lnkd.in/gUjDJ-_J Photo: James Ingram Plantlife International #NoMowSummer #RewildingBritain #RewildYourGarden

On the mainland shoreline of upper Sarasota Bay you’ll find the >100 year old commercial fishing village of Cortez. There are not many working waterfronts left in Florida, so we are proud to have Cortez in our watershed. The major catch (tonnage) landed in Cortez is red grouper. Like most species of grouper, they spend most of their lives offshore, and they spawn offshore too. But the juvenile stages of their life cycles are spent in estuaries such as Sarasota Bay, using habitats like seagrass meadows. In response to the bay having met our pollutant load reduction goal, our water quality is no longer considered “impaired” for nutrients. Our water is cleaner than it has been in over 10 years, and we are documenting seagrass recovery based on the improved water quality. Which means more habitat for young grouper, which means the hard-working people of Cortez can keep their lifestyles and homes. And I can continue to enjoy blackened grouper at waterfront restaurants in Cortez. #sarasotabay #waterquality #seagrass #commercialfishing

Much of the West of the UK was long ago covered with temperate rainforest, a rare ecological landscape that was home to unique plant species. (For more info on this incredible, forgotten history, check out Guy Shrubsole's 'The Lost Rainforests of Britain', published by HarperCollins Publishers.) Today, less that 1% of Britain is home to ancient rainforest, so it is encouraging to read that a tract of Pembrokeshire, West Wales, will undergo a 100-year rewilding project to restore its natural abundance, with support from The Wildlife Trusts and funding from Business in the Community member Aviva. Ecological restoration and proactive rewilding are not only crucial for protecting the planet by reintroducing carbon capturing trees and plants, they can also play an important role in helping local #communities and places to connect with nature and the environment. https://lnkd.in/e78ndvwq

Great read 👍 Some useful tips and reminders for rewilding gardens, such as picking an array of plants that will provide fruit/ nectar all year round and always checking that the compost your using is peat free… or even having a go at making your own! 🌱🪵

Hedges cut too low and hard, and at the start of autumn, harming the survival of wildlife over winter.  No road safety need, obsessive tidyness. The solution is simple and cost free - just cut a few inches higher every year for the next few years, allowing the hedge to grow taller and creating some 2-3:year twigs which bear flowers and fruit. Whilst at it allow a few more stems to grow into bigger trees.  Just as tidy

Thanks Jerry for a very clear explanation of this too common a problem! Similar scenarios occur frequently in private gardens and public parks. Over use of hedge trimmers result in over pruned shrubs with no natural form and ornamental attributes, such as colourful and textured bark hidden from view behind dense thickets of foliage. Flowering potential is ruined due to mature stems not being allowed to develop and so pollinators are restricted and ornamental fruit will not develop. The flowers for which the shrubs were planted are denied an opportunity to brighten the world! It would be helpful if machinery manufacturers and dealers would take good horticultural advice and provide information to trade and private customers to always protect valuable plants and the benefits they bring. If this approach is followed there will inevitably be less hedge trimmers sold but maybe the shortfall in business could be made up in the sale of good quality secateurs for selective pruning according to each species needs and intention of planting. This of course would also mean that quality of training would have to centre on plant knowledge not just machinery use. Save the hedge trimmers for formal hedges! Jerry's illustration below shows the scaled up countryside version of events.

WLFW’s efforts in the sagebrush biome focus on holistic, watershed-scale conservation. Our proactive strategies are designed to work together to enable conservation that extends from ridgetops to valley bottoms. Four primary threats are jeopardizing the health and resiliency of sagebrush country: 1️⃣ Exotic Annual Grass Invasion 2️⃣ Land Use Conversion 3️⃣ Riparian & Wet Meadow Degradation 4️⃣ Woodland Expansion Learn more about the sagebrush sea and its threats here: https://buff.ly/3XlwBB1

Learn how to effortlessly transform your yard into an eco-friendly oasis in this recent #GTK blog post on https://lnkd.in/gHkMC5xQ. Discover the simple steps to creating a beautiful and beneficial rain garden, perfect for soaking up excess water and attracting wildlife. Questions? Let me know! I’d love to hear from you. #BHHS #BHHSRealEstate #RainGarden #LandscapingTips