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What you can do for wildlife

Explains how you can help wildlife and how to create and fund a wildlife area.

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How can I help wildlife?

Everyone can help wildlife whether they are an expert, an amateur naturalist or an interested member of the public. There are a number of ways to get involved. Here are just a few:

Wildlife-friendly gardening

We can all help wildlife at home by doing a few simple things in our gardens, such as leaving a corner to go wild, planting flowers and shrubs that provide pollen and nectar for insects, or berries for birds, providing nest boxes, digging a pond or feeding the birds. You can also try to avoid using chemical pesticides in favour of natural alternatives and stop using peat-based composts that can lead to the destruction of peat bog habitats.

Record what wildlife you see whilst out and about

Record what species you see, when and where you saw it and how many there were and send this information to the North East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre (NEYEDC) so the data can be added to many other sightings and build up the picture of the area’s wildlife. Click on the link below to contact the NEYEDC and record which species you have seen:

Contact Us - NEYEDC (external website)

You may also wish to record your wildlife sightings on iRecord. The aim of iRecord is to make it easier for national wildlife sightings to be collated, checked by experts and made available to support research and decision-making at local and national levels. Use the link below to submit a recording to iRecord.

iRecord (external website)

Volunteering

Volunteer with a conservation group and do some practical work to manage a habitat. The Trust for Conservation Volunteers (TCV), Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and other organisations all run practical volunteer days where you can get fit, meet people and do your bit.

Read more about volunteering in the countryside

Private sector organisations

Why not create a wildlife area at work if there is space or try and get your company to manage the site with wildlife in mind? Put up bat boxes, feed the birds or plant berry and fruit bearing bushes. Have team away days doing practical conservation work. As a team, company or office, do sponsored events in aid of wildlife charities.

Join a local wildlife group or go on a guided wildlife walk

There are lots of local wildlife, countryside or naturalist groups in the East Riding that can help you develop your wildlife skills and allow you to get involved in practical conservation. You can contact the following groups if you want to get involved in your local area:

How do I create and fund a wildlife area?

Planting

It can be surprisingly easy to create a wildlife area; even just a small area of land such as the corner of a playing field can provide benefits for biodiversity.

Native plant species are always favoured for biodiversity, but some amenity plants can also be of benefit. Planting different species of tree, shrub and flowering plants provides nectar and other food sources through the year. Bees and other insects, which may be in decline, will gain from nectar or pollen-rich plants such as honeysuckle. Planting night-scented flowers, such as jasmine, will attract insects for bats to feed on.

Try not to use chemical weed killers or pesticides. Chemical free management tends to be better for wildlife including insects, which in turn provides a food resource for other birds and animals.

A well-developed shrub bed or hedge provides nest sites for birds and shelter for wildlife such as hedgehogs. Berry bearing trees and shrubs, such as rowan, will provide a food source for birds in the autumn and into winter.

Funding

GRANTnet is a straightforward, free to use service that can help small businesses, charitable and community groups to find suitable funding.

Presented in the format of an online, step-by-step questionnaire, GRANTnet enables you to identify and select only funding schemes and awards that are appropriate for your project. The information on GRANTnet comprises of over 5,000 funding schemes that are available in the UK from European and national sources, directed at the public, private, charitable, and voluntary and community sectors. Follow the link to read more about grants and funding.

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