One of the women behind Vine House Farm in Deeping St Nicholas has called on house builders to rethink new developments and make them better for wildlife.
With more housing being built, Lucy Taylor says home builders should do more.
Among the issues she would like to see change are for gardens to offer more than just ‘slabs and grass’ and ‘sterile’ turf spaces.
Mrs Taylor is also looking for developers to create ‘hedgehog highways’ between gardens of new developments and include more ‘wild corners’ to let wildlife grow.
She said “I’ve recently been encouraged to read about the efforts to make nesting bricks for swifts in all new homes a legal requirement, and whilst the parliamentary bill still has some way to go, many housing developers have already taken a lead and included them in new properties.
“But like many other species of bird which grace our skies, Swifts need insects in order to survive and breed, and any amount of new nesting sites isn’t going to increase insect numbers – for that we need a different approach to gardens and the land around the developments.”
Mrs Taylor (pictured) continued that she wanted to ‘shift the mindset’.
“It’s time we stop seeing nature conservation as someone else’s job and how homeowners, planners and developers can all help reverse wildlife decline,” she said.
