At home with nature

Promoting biodiversity in your home garden is a brilliant way to preserve nature and support a healthy habitat in your community. And it doesn’t have to be complicated, expensive or make your garden look more of a safari than a sanctuary.

At St. Modwen Homes, we’re committed to biodiversity and protecting our native species. Whether it’s going the extra mile to preserve and improve existing natural habitats on our developments or by including special biodiversity features in our properties, we do all we can to ensure that local wildlife isn’t impacted by the homes we build.

Scatter wildflower seeds

An affordable and simple way to add some much-needed habitat for insects, we’ve have lost 96% of our diverse, species-rich meadows since the 1950s, so re-creating them in the garden can help redress the balance.

Annual meadows have a mix of annual wildflowers such as poppies, Nigella, corn marigolds and annual grasses; they will succeed on fairly rich soils, too, but a suitable seed mix usually needs to be re-sown each year.

Perennial meadows have more permanent plants such as buttercups, ragged robin and Leucanthemum.

Create a compost bin

Not only a great way to make your own rich compost, but a sustainable and environmentally friendly way to dispose of all of your vegetable cuttings, coffee granules and eggshells. Compost is also a fantastic home for lots of small creatures. It also attracts hedgehogs, birds and frogs, who feed on the smaller animals and insects. And the list doesn’t stop there – due to the heat created from the decomposition, you might even spot a grass snake!

A pile of dead wood? (Let us explain!)

Decaying wood provides an ever-rarer habitat to a range of specialist wildlife that is growing increasingly uncommon in the countryside, such as stag and bark beetles and their grubs, and many species of fungi. It also provides cover and hibernation sites. Any unstained or unpainted wood works, although big, natural logs are best, ideally partly buried. Log piles can look quite architectural and rustic, though many people prefer to tuck them out of sight.