Ecology
Traditionally, landscaping and gardening practices have sought to reduce what is wild in our gardens. Where it's possible, we aim to achieve the opposite.
Ecological & Wildlife Gardens
There are a multitude of different types of gardens and none of them have to be mutually exclusive to wildlife. Often, the most wild things that happen in our gardens aren’t designed. Yet they can be.
At Woodland Landscapes we have vast experience in creating wildlife gardens with semi-natural habitats that decorate gardens full of life and colour. As a qualified ecologist, Peter Playle has worked directly for the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts in the conservation of nature reserves and valuable species. Years of similar work with the Environment Agency and Natural England have given Peter and our team the expertise to establish specialised habitats for nature in our client's gardens.
Our ecological input can range from a small garden pond with nectar-rich planting to encourage butterflies and bees, to the creation of wildflower meadows, the development of small woodlands or even the introduction of a rain garden.
Sometimes, the best part of our jobs can be returning to previous projects and seeing first-hand the positive impacts they have on our client's lives. Seeing the joy on their faces as they recite stories of what they’ve seen and heard in their gardens and listening to them discover brand-new ways of enjoying their space all year round is extremely fulfilling.
Perhaps our favourite example of this was returning to a job that can be seen in the background where we had installed a kingfisher bank on the side of a pond in Hickling. Having noticed there were a pair of kingfishers frequently using the pond in the summer months, we created an opportunity to build them a home and more importantly, a reason to come back. So later in the year we embarked on carving a bank on the water's edge and installed a nest chamber into it. We also drilled a hole and tunnel for access into the chamber and the following summer we returned and amazingly filmed footage of the kingfishers using their new home.
This great story is just one of our favourites from the many we get to create every year at Woodland Landscapes. While not all of them are as extravagant as this one, they are all exciting subplots to the life that goes on in people’s gardens of all sizes.
© WOODLAND LANDSCAPES DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
Glebe Farm, Main Street, Hickling, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE14 3AQ
Tel (01664) 823771 Mobile 07968 915951
