Let's stop turning our urban neighbourhoods into concrete jungles - let's bring our wildlife back!!

I would like to encourage people to start thinking about planting NATIVE species in their gardens, instead of foreign exotics, which are mostly force-grown by garden centres and are of very little value to our native wildlife!!

Good examples of native species are: hawthorn (crataegus monogyna) which makes a wonderful thorny hedge. Also great is holly (ilex aquifolium) a red-listed evergreen with beautiful shiny dark-green leaves and red berries, much loved by birds. Another excellent choice is our native black elder (Sambucus Nigra) and our native Rowan tree (Sorbus Aucuparia). You could also plant silver birch (Betula Pendula) in a slightly larger garden. There are many more species to choose from, but those are some of the best!!

I'm in the process of creating my own little piece of heaven in my back garden: most of what I've planted is native to Ireland (and central Europe) as you can see in my campaign photograph. My garden is still very young and mightn't look like much, so don't be put off by what it looks like right now!!

Wildlife gardening is wonderful, as I am increasingly finding out myself!! Not only am I learning SOOO much (which is great for the brain) - I am also getting plenty of fresh air and gentle exercise, which beats spending too much time indoors or on social media!!

Wildlife gardening is also wonderful for MENTAL HEALTH, another topical issue I care deeply about: I suffer from anxiety and find, that being out in my garden always helps me to relax and unwind! I am looking for like-minded people I can share my passion with!!

Also, we need to start putting down less concrete and gravel in our gardens: we are at risk of turning our beautiful neighbourhoods into an urban wasteland!!

As most of us already know, many of our native wildlife species are in serious decline, due to modern intensive farming practices in the countryside and also for other reasons. Many of our songbirds, for example, have found refuge in our towns and cities, where they have been able to find hedges to nest in and have been able to take advantage of various food sources no longer available in their previous native habitats. I am increasingly seeing a trend, where people are 'tidying up' their gardens, by putting down more and more hard landscaping and by taking out trees, hedges or shrubs, crowding out our urban wildlife in the process!!

This is happening EVERYWHERE, not just in my local area!!

I think this is tragic and will do very little for our own wellbeing in the long run. We could create an urban paradise, abundant with wildlife, simply by planting NATIVE trees, shrubs, hedges and wildflowers in our own gardens!! This would also help tackle climate change.

This is an appeal, not to politicians or other officials, but to my fellow citizens, who - I'm sure - don't want to end up living in a concrete jungle, either!!

PLEASE SIGN MY PETITION, SO I KNOW, PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THIS ISSUE!!
Maybe you could pledge to plant even ONE native shrub, tree or wildflower bed in your own garden!!

It's time to open our hearts and bring nature back into our lives!!