Climate Change and Nature Restoration

Nature Restoration Actions for Green Spaces

Want to make a difference with your green space ?

Want to contribute to Nature Restoration ?

What you can do to combat Climate Change

For some time now we have been talking about Nature Recovery this has now subtly changed to Nature Restoration ! So what can we do in our Green Spaces to make them work harder for nature.

This guide is based on the principles outlined in Darlington Borough Council's Climate Change and Nature Strategy 2025 - 2040. For green spaces this focuses on improving connectivity, increasing resilience and halting biodiversity decline. Clearly not all of these suggestions can be tackled by Friends groups and some of these actions are not appropriate for some green spaces such as Park-like spaces. Any major enhancements such as wild flower planting, scrub management, mowing regimes should be done in consultation with agencies such as Darlington Borough Council and Durham Wildlife Trust who are already working to achieve some of these.

1. Improving Connectivity and Resilience

A core principle for nature restoration is to improve the connectivity of habitats through the creation and/or enhancement of wildlife corridors and stepping-stones. Wildlife corridors and stepping-stones are simply areas where wildlife can move about and through an urban environment looking for food. Any improvements in size and quality will enhance and better service the wildlife trying to thrive in these spaces. This is especially important when wildlife is in close proximity to urban environments. These actions also work to increase the resilience of natural environments against climate change which means protection against flooding and increased temperatures.

Activities include:

Planting trees is good for shade and surface water management where appropriate.
Wood piles create habitats for a whole range of insects, fungi, lichen, small animals and hedgehogs
Hedge laying through and across green spaces helps wildlife travel through spaces.
Bird boxes
Bat Boxes
Hedgehog boxes
Dead hedge laying old wood and cut wood between poles gives good cover and the same advantages as wood piles.

2. Halting and Reversing Biodiversity Decline

Specific actions aimed at reversing biodiversity decline involve the creation of alternative carbon sinks.

These include:

Planting trees where appropriate
Woodland maintenance and deadwood should cover 50% of the woodland floor (understory)
Wildflower meadows
Maintaining grassland, scrub and re wilding areas
Freshwater bodies and wetland associated habitats.

More detailed actions can be undertaken such as:

Consider stop mowing in April and leave until July/August.
Create refuges for over-wintering opportunities called refugia for invertebrates, leave a grassed area unmown annually, rotating the location.
Ground Flora Restoration: Working with other agencies sow a suitable seed mix in heavily shaded areas lacking ground flora. Plug/bulb planting of species such as ramsons, bluebell, wood anemone and wood sorrel can establish ground flora.
Creating a well-developed scrub edge involves establishing a diverse, structurally varied transition zone (ecotone) between open ground and taller vegetation, using native species to provide food, shelter and nesting sites for wildlife. The goal is a "soft" edge wavy or "scalloped" edge with D-shaped insets and open glades.

South-facing edges are particularly valuable due to higher light levels and warmer microclimates, which benefit insects, reptiles and sun-loving plants. Ensure the scrub edge links with other habitats, such as hedgerows, existing woodland and wetlands, to create vital wildlife corridors. https://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/conservationadvice/meadows-and-grassland/grassland-and-scrub

Watercourse Enhancement: Working with other agencies enhance riparian habitats by selectively managing vegetation, such as coppicing or felling, to reduce excessive shading and allow more sunlight to reach the water and bank sides.
Species-Specific Features: Working with other agencies provide additional connective features to watercourses, such as the creation of backwaters, reedbeds and ponds, which offer deeper refuge areas for species like water voles during low water levels.
Working with other agencies construct reptile/amphibian hibernacula. digging a sunny hole, filling it with logs, rocks and debris to create a maze of gaps, inserting drainpipe entrances, covering with soil/turf and leaving access points for creatures to overwinter safely https://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/hibernaculum

DOVES wish you every success with your improvements. Please share your activities and experiences with us on the DOVES Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/848220745348818 or drop us a message on our e mail so we can share dovesdarlington@gmail.com so we can encourage others.