What wildlife rich looks like:
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Green spaces, gardens and buildings
Our gardens and parks are important wildlife habitats.
Today, most of Devon’s hedgehogs are found in towns and villages.
Ludwell Valley Park (Exeter), Annie Houston
Heavitree Park (Exeter), Annie Houston
Snapshot for green spaces, gardens and buildings
Focus species:
Mammals: Hazel dormouse, hedgehog, greater and lesser horseshoe bat, grey long-eared bat, serotine bat.
Birds: Birds of towns and villages (starling, swift, house sparrow, house martin, spotted flycatcher)
Moths and butterflies: Brown hairstreak butterfly
Plants: Plymouth pear, Deptford pink, green-winged orchid. Calcareous coastal grassland species (including field eryngo, Bithynian vetch and the Torbay limestone specialists)
See the Devon Species of Conservation Concern spreadsheet for all species.
UK significance:
UK priority habitat: Ancient and veteran trees, wood pasture and parkland, broadleaved woodland, native hedgerows, lowland meadows, calcareous grasslands, broadleaved woodland, wet woodland and traditional orchards.
Statutory irreplaceable habitat: Ancient and veteran trees
1. About
Public parks, churchyards and cemeteries, allotments, school grounds, golf courses, caravan parks and our private gardens are all examples of green spaces that are largely managed for recreation or other amenities and that can benefit wildlife. Green spaces that form part of landscaping schemes, such as on industrial sites, can also benefit wildlife. These public and private spaces are found in both urban and rural areas.
Buildings can also support wildlife by providing valuable nesting and roosting sites, green roofs and walls.
Green spaces and gardens are a vital part of Devon’s nature network. They’re increasingly being managed for wildlife and are often made up of small patches of lots of habitats such as trees, long grass, short grass, walls, hedges, flower beds, fruit trees, compost heaps and ponds. This mosaic of habitats is fantastic for wildlife as it provides lots of options for shelter and nesting sites and food for insects and small mammals. Insects and small mammals in turn provide food for larger mammals (such as hedgehogs), bats and birds. Birds such as swifts and house martins nest in our eaves and bats roost in our lofts and cellars.
Some of our green spaces are among the best examples of UK priority habitats, such as the limestone grasslands at Berry Head Country Park NNR in Torbay and Billacombe SSSI in Plymouth. Because many parks, such as Devonport Park in Plymouth and Phear Park in Exmouth, are remnants of parklands they have wildlife-rich ancient and veteran trees.
Other green spaces support rare species. Bithynian vetch (a rare plant) is found along the seafront in Exmouth as well as on the cliffs at Sandy Bay Park just outside Exmouth. Bee orchids regularly pop up in patches of grasslands on industrial sites, including in Exeter and Exmouth.
These green spaces also provide wider benefits. They help to improve air quality, capture and store carbon, reduce flooding, improve water quality and enhance our health and well-being.
Key pressures and opportunities
See Habitats and Species pages for other relevant pressures and opportunities for specific habitats and species in our green spaces.
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Individuals and community groups- Wild About Devon.
Opportunities to design for wildlife.
Green spaces also provide wider benefits. They help to improve air quality, capture and store carbon, reduce flooding, improve water quality and enhance our health and well-being.
2. What we need to do and where
Priority
Better (wildlife-rich), bigger and more green spaces and gardens that are connected to a network of habitats across Devon. All existing and new buildings are managed or designed to provide wildlife habitats.
Actions for green spaces, gardens and buildings
See Find out more below for links to more information on managing green spaces and gardens for wildlife.
Create and manage a mosaic of wildlife-rich habitats in green spaces and gardens
Always check what wildlife already exists before taking action that could be detrimental. Consider the following as part of a well-designed green space or garden:
- Plant and manage dense shrubs and bushy hedges with climbers such as ivy and honeysuckle to provide shelter, nesting sites, flowers and berries. Do not cut during the bird nesting season.
- Plant a wide range of flowering plants in borders. Choose plants to provide a range of flower shapes and to ensure that there are flowers for as long as possible through the year and a constant supply of pollen and nectar for insects. These do not have to be native species.
- Dig more ponds! Even tiny ponds are important for wildlife. Add ramps to steep-sided ponds to help wildlife such as hedgehogs escape.
- Increase tree cover, including fruit trees. Follow best practice guidance regarding species selection, spacing and aftercare. Where possible, allow trees to mature and become veteran, with lots of deadwood for insects.
- Manage grasslands for wildlife by letting grass grow longer (for insects such as moths, butterflies and grasshoppers) and allowing native plants and seeds already in the grassland to grow. Only re-seed where needed. Mow paths and clean edges to ensure that long grass looks designed rather than neglected.
- Create log piles for insects and fungi.
- Create gaps in fences to allow wildlife to move around.
- Check for wildlife before strimming and before lighting bonfires. Do not use robotic lawnmowers at night when wildlife such as hedgehogs can be active.
Reduce the use of pesticides
Reduce the use of pesticides, including slug pellets.
Eliminate litter – agree wording with DCC waste team (same actions for terr mammals)
- Everyone to reduce littering and to litter pick as a normal part of day-to-day life (improve wording)
- Local authorities to target routine litter operations to wildlife-rich green spaces
- Further develop and promote Devon County Council’s ‘Litter Kills Wildlife’ campaign in support of the Great British Spring Clean.
Reduce light pollution
Agree and add consistent wording
Control invasive species
See Invasives for more information.
Store water by creating rain gardens and sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS)
Design and manage green spaces and gardens to store water and reduce run-off into drainage systems. See Find out more below for information on rain gardens and SUDS.
Provide nesting sites for birds and roosting sites for bats in buildings
Add action to align with bats and birds
Create green roofs and walls
Integrate accessible wildlife into all new urban design schemes, following national best practice including Natural England’s principles for green infrastructure
Awareness
Discuss with LNP community group and Local Authorities / contractors – anything needed to inspire action? building wildlife habitat into well designed green spaces and gardens – how to improve networking / sharing BP amongst green space managers? Celebrate BP / demo sites etc? schools?
- Support the Network for Environmental Education in Devon (part of the Devon Local Nature Partnership)
- Support Wild About Devon (the Devon Local Nature Partnership’s community action network)
Other relevant actions
Follow the links below to the relevant Focus Species pages as well as to relevant habitat and wider theme pages:
Where to focus action
Focus action everywhere! Wildlife-rich green spaces and gardens are needed across Devon.
However check the Viewer (See Mapping) to see if your green space or garden is in a High Opportunity Area. If it is, where possible carry out the actions set out for that area.
3. Inspiration
To be added through Consultation
Case studies
Case studies and Where to visit will be agreed following discussion through public consultation period and then finalised.
There’s lots of great work going on across Devon for green spaces, gardens and buildings. For example:
To be added through Consultation
Where to visit
Always follow the Countryside Code and keep to footpaths and sites which are managed for public access. A few examples of places to go are given below, for information on visiting these and other sites see the Explore Devon website.
Agree some good examples of parks and gardens managed for wildlife
4. Find out more
Add more links and tidy up, and finalise following discussion through public consultation.
Link to LNP page
Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Framework includes 15 Principles for creating high quality green infrastructure
Sustainable Urban Drainage Scheme (SUDS) guidance
Buglife has published guidance on Creating Green Roofs for Invertebrates –
Garden Wildlife Health (GWH) is a collaborative project between the Zoological Society of London, British Trust for Ornithology, Froglife and the RSPB which aims to monitor the health of, and identify disease threats to, British wildlife. The website has lots of useful information and a section allowing people to report incidents of disease and mortality.
The Devon Local Nature Partnership website has lots of useful information on lighting – Devon Dark Skies – Devon Local Nature Partnership
