Bellamy urges us to do our bit for wildlife

Aug 12 2009 by Jade Wright, Birkenhead News

HE’S the original botanist, author, broadcaster and environmental campaigner. and now Professor David Bellamy OBE is urging us all to do our bit to encourage our native wildlife.

“Butterflies and bees are struggling at the moment,” he explains. “A lot of that is down to farming methods, but gardeners can do a lot to help the environment too.

“Minimalist gardens with stones and twigs are no good for wildlife – they need plants, and ideally flowers.

“If we all planted just one insect friendly plant in our gardens, we could save the insect population. A nice buddleia will attract butterflies and bees, or an ox-eye daisy is good. But anything, really. The more flowers you have in your garden the better. It looks beautiful, and you’re feeding our natural insects.”

And he’s keen to stress that his concern isn’t just sentimental.

“Yes, wildlife looks beautiful and we want to conserve it, but it’s much more important than that. Without butterflies and bees, we wouldn’t eat. If they all died out, it would take 30 million people wandering around the countryside pollinating crops with paintbrushes to keep our food production going.”

And David says farmers need to do their bit too.

“There’s a whole eco-system built around agricultural land, and that’s being eroded.

“Farmers have removed the hedgerows to make harvesting quicker, but in the process they’ve removed the habitat for millions of insects and native birds.

“Now, when it rains there’s nowhere for the butterflies to shelter, there’s nowhere for insects to lay eggs or birds to build nests.

“If we reintroduced more of the old farming methods, the wildlife would return.

“That’s the message that I really want to get across: All is not lost! Nature will repair itself, we just need to give it a fighting chance.

“Like I say, if we all make the small change of making our gardens wildlife havens with a few flowers, we can do this.”

David is coming to Merseyside twice this month – firstly to the Southport Flower Show, and then to the Wirral Food and Drink Festival as a patron.

“I am honoured and delighted to be the patron of Wirral Food and Drink Festival and fully support the promotion of local business, community spirit and British food and farming,” says David.

And he’s looking forward to spreading his flowery message at Southport.

“It’s a wonderful show,” he explains. “I’ve been coming to it for years. I wouldn’t miss one. This year is the 80th anniversary. I hope to be at the 100th, still going strong.

“The show is based around amateurs, which is why I love it so much. At the professional shows it can get a bit stuffy and unrealistic – things that you’d never see in a real garden.

“I like the homemade feel at Southport, and the enthusiasm that people put in. I’m a botanist with five doctorates and the gardeners are the ones teaching me. But I’m a very willing pupil.”

David Bellamy appears at the Southport Flower Show, which runs from August 20-23. Tickets £18 or £14 in advance. For details see www.southportflowershow.co.uk.

I have five pairs of tickets for the flower show with David Bellamy’s latest book, Conflicts in the Countryside, to give away. If you’d like a book and a pair of tickets, send a postcard to me at Jade Wright, It’s Our World, Wirral News, PO Box 48, Old Hall Street Liverpool, L69 3EB, saying why and including your name, a daytime phone number and your address. Entries close on Monday August 17.

Wirral Food and Drink Festival, which is held at Claremont Farm on Sunday, August 30 and Monday, August 31. Details are available from www.wirralfoodfestival.co.uk.