Designing our urban areas to be wildlife friendly
One of the biggest threats to wildlife is habitat loss... but humans need places to live and work, and cities and suburban areas are growing and spreading. Is it possible to balance the two? Are there ways to support wildlife and provide habitats in amongst human development?Ideally, we'd have a big rethink about how to use land efficiently, while having the least impact on the environment and animals. But there are new ideas and innovations being developed that try to mitigate some of the harm urban and suburban areas can have on wildlife, or even provide new habitats for wildlife in amongst it all. After all, we are part of nature and we feel better when we are surrounded by it and connected to it.
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From bare walls to a thriving marine habitat
If you look at the walls of the harbour at Falmouth, in Cornwall, you might spot something a little different. Instead of smooth blocks of stone or concrete, areas of the harbour wall have been covered in big tiles - one type are called Habitiles, and another are called SeAlive tiles - that mimic the uneven surface, nooks and crannies you'd usually find at a rocky seashore.Why is this important? The smooth harbour walls don't make a good habitat for marine life; it's hard for algae to grow or seaweeds to take root. But it's much easier for this to grow on the textured tiles, and once they do, they provide food, a place to live and a safe place to hide for all sorts of other marine wildlife. This, Falmouth Harbour hopes, will lead to an increase in biodiversity in the harbour, and they will be monitoring it regularly to see if this is the case.Read more:
2. Mini wildflower meadows
It might be surprising to hear this but urban areas often have plenty of bees and other pollinators - sometimes even more than farmland. One way to support and encourage pollinators is to forego the manicured lawns and closely cropped grass, and instead let things get a little wild. And if that's not possible, then having a few areas around parks, riverbanks, office landscaping or school grounds that's dedicated to wild and beautiful native flowers can do the trick. While it might not be the same as having fields and fields of them, enough smaller patches spread across and area can provide plenty of food for pollinators, which is good news for all of us.
3. Homes for bees, bugs and birds
Hand in hand with food is a safe place to life, and these too can be built into the environment.Bee bricks are designed with lots of little holes which are perfect for solitary bees to nest in - and other insects too. In some parks and buildings, these can be integrated into walls to provide good habitats. Bug hotels and also being added to parks and grounds to encourage mini beasts, which are important for biodiversity and in turn provide food for bigger mammals and birds.
Birds also need places to live and while bird boxes are a great option for many species, some architects and builders are coming up with building designs that provide specific features that certain bird species will love. This includes things like overhangs that birds like swallows and swifts can construct their nests in.
4. Wildlife road overpasses
Roads are bad news for wildlife. They divide up habitat, and crossing is very dangerous; many animals loose their lives attempting it. So designing in ways for wildlife to get safely from one side to the other in important, and it's also important to tailor it to the types of animals that might want to cross.Tunnels underneath roads are great for ground-dwelling animals, like insects, amphibians and small mammals. But overpasses are becoming increasingly popular and can take many forms. Net overpasses allow tree-dwelling animals like squirrels cross roads while avoiding the risks of both the road and ground-dwelling predators. Green bridges are also becoming increasingly popular, allow animals of all sizes places to cross busy roads.
5. Hedgehog friendly fencing
There are a LOT of fences in the UK; between gardens, around schools, dividing up plots of land, keeping factories secure, etc. And while they are important for stopping people getting where they shouldn't they also often stop wildlife getting where it should.Enter the hedgehog-friendly fence. To look at, it looks like a regular fence but look closely at the bottom and you'll find some panels have a small cut-out that means a little hedgehog can squeeze through the gap - but it's too small to allow your pet dog to escape!And these little gaps don't just help hedgehogs; all sorts of other small wildlife can move around this way from garden to garden, such as reptiles, amphibians, small mammals and insects.
6. Encouraging bats into your attic
Bats are another species that can survive and even thrive in urban and suburban spaces, so long as they have a source of food and a safe place to set up home. Many of the elements we've mentioned above, such as wildflower patches and mini-beast friendly bricks, will help ensure bats have a plentiful supply of insects to feast on, but when it comes to habitat, that's something that can be designed into buildings.Buildings that have plenty of small, safe places for bats to roost are ideal. This can be small hidden spaces in the eaves of buildings, or other covered sheltered areas, and the Bat Conservation Trust even offers advice to builders and construction firms as to features they could include that will support bats.
And, like Bee Bricks and Swift Bricks, there are also Bat Bricks. These are single units that can be incorporated into a wall or building, and give bats an urban home.