Working as a team within a community to help wildlife is a very special feeling. Deben View, an Orwell Housing extra care scheme in Woodbridge, have residents who are very keen gardeners. They noticed that their fantastic hedgehogs had vanished. They wondered why and invited our Conservation Advisor, Cathy Smith, to visit and give advice. They followed Cathy's advice, and set about fruit tree planting, hedge planting, making leaf piles and more, with members of their head office to lend a hand, and local community group, Transition Woodbridge. They also enrolled their neighbours Jetty Lane, a youth charity, for extra help and again Suffolk Wildlife Trust was called upon to help with creating habitats for stag beetles and other invertebrates. Thanks to funding from Suffolk Coasts and Heaths AONB, our Community Engagement officer, Charlie Zakss was able to invite local school Woodbridge Prep Year 4’s, to help build a huge minibeast mansion and three stag beetle pyramids, building on Cathy’s advice the year before.
This project has included and inspired quite a collection of local people, from all generations. It will provide the garden with a dynamic natural beauty, supporting a richer habitat for local wildlife, resulting in more insects, bees, butterflies, birds, bats, and mammals... for its own sake and for the enjoyment of the people who live and work at Deben View. We hope this inspires other residential and work communities to get active in their own spaces!
