2 February 2010
Britain’s gardeners are being urged to make 2010 the year in which a familiar factor of UK life is greeted with care, rather than grumbles – rain.
The call comes from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) in the wake of its first survey into how environmentally-aware UK households are managing water in their gardens and a linked competition to find the country’s best backyard wetland.
Dr Debbie Pain, WWT’s director conservation, says: “The good news from the survey is that three-quarters of the households taking part now have a wildlife pond &/or bog garden and are united in their delight at the year-round interest these backyard wetlands provide. But the downside of the results is how few families are maximising the value of the rain which falls on to their property – either to encourage growth and biodiversity or to reduce the risk of the flooding. This is a major worry in the light of climate predictions and one that all of us need to address this year and beyond.”
According to poll replies, more than a third of gardeners aren’t collecting rainwater in containers, only one in 10 harvests the run-off from roofs efficiently and just 20% regularly use ‘grey’ water (for instance, from washing up bowls) in their gardens. In addition, around a fifth of the gardens are half covered by tarmac, paving stones or other water-repelling materials.
Dr Pain warns: “When downpours hit concrete, decking, stone tiles and suchlike, the rain has nowhere to go except into surface drains which aren’t equipped to cope with flows of this size. The fact, then, that the survey points to very limited garden rainfall management and a fashion for hard-standing drives and patios is a cause for concern given that we are being warned to expect dryer summers, making rain more precious, and a greater frequency of heavy cloudbursts, making the risk of floods higher.”
She says the answer is better use of the rain which falls on gardens – as demonstrated by the East Sussex garden chosen to receive the £1,000 Marsh Award for Wetlands Conservation as the overall winner of the contest run as part of the survey.
Owner Glenn Langler, of Chelwood Gate, near Haywards Heath, collects rainwater from the roof of his home and shed to irrigate his flower and vegetable beds and top-up a thoughtfully-planted pond which has attracted the endangered great-crested newt as well as Emperor dragonflies and other creatures.
Glenn will receive his prize during an international conference, sponsored by WWT, taking place in Peterborough on Tuesday 2 February – World Wetlands Day.
Two other finalists will receive commendations at the same event. They are:
Martin Hobson and Fiona Coles, whose small garden in Bramhope, Leeds, is given over almost entirely to wildlife and water management, including collecting rain from roofs in large tanks to water their garden and flush toilets, a green roof which provides extra wildlife habitat, and a pond teeming with life.
Darrell Watts, of Corsham, Wiltshire, who collects rain in a series of butts and, unusually, has built a pond in his front garden, enabling passers-by to share in the enjoyment offered by its rich variety of plants and wildlife.
Their prizes are a year’s family membership to WWT plus a case of environmentally friendly Yali wine from Chilean producer Viña Ventisquero, whose winery is in the same valley as the Yali Wetland Zone - central Chile’s most important ecosystem.
The full findings from the survey will be shared at the World Wetlands Day conference as part of a WWT presentation on the next stages of its campaign to make garden owners more aware of how to create and manage backyard wetlands, including by building ponds and rainwater harvesting.
Dr Pain adds: “This year is International Year of Biodiversity - a time when we are all being asked to think about how we can help wildlife. Wetlands are crucial to this effort yet have been lost or damaged almost everywhere. Backyard wetlands can help to off-set these losses while also giving families fascinating new insights into nature. Taken alone, a backyard pond or bog garden may not seem very significant but if just 10% of the UK garden-owning households created one, we’d have at least another 270 acres of wetlands helping us to ease the impact of climate change and keep biodiversity vibrant.”
To sign-up for pond-related news, ideas and offers from WWT, send an email to wimby@wwt.org.uk or ask for details at any of WWT’s nine UK visitor centres. To find out more about WWT's survey, click here.