GREENING SELSEY
Creating a Sustainable Future
Greening Selsey is co-ordinated by MWHG with the support of a range of local community groups and organisations. It is an initiative to tackle the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, at a local level. It aims to make Selsey a better place to live for everything and everyone.
With an estimated 16 million gardens in the UK, the way they are managed can make a huge difference to wildlife. Although each garden on its own may be small, together they can form a patchwork of mini nature reserves linking urban green spaces with the wider countryside, giving wildlife the space to adapt and thrive in a changing climate.
Greening Selsey wants wildlife to thrive in Selsey and, as you can see, one of the best places to start is in gardens.
As a first step, in partnership with Selsey Open Gardens, people were encouraged to complete a Wildlife Garden Survey. The main purpose of the survey was to investigate the current value to wildlife of gardens in Selsey. And the simple answer is that most have significant value because of the wildlife-friendly features they contain.
63 completed surveys have been received and here are the results.
Garden Survey Results
1. How would you describe your garden? Tick only one.
Multi-purpose / play garden | 6% |
Mixture of flower beds, lawns and vegetable beds | 74% |
Wildlife Garden | 11% |
Mostly paved | 3% |
Woodland | 2% |
Other | 4% |
2. What size if your garden (include front and back)? Tick only one.
Small - less than half a tennis court | 19% |
Medium - half a tennis court to a whole tennis court | 37% |
Large - more than a tennis court | 29% |
Very Large - more than 2 tennis courts | 15% |
3. What surrounds your garden? Tick only one.
Wooden fence | 42% |
Brick / stone wall | 12% |
Hedges / trees | 9% |
Combination of the above | 37% |
4. Which of these features do you have in your garden? Tick all that apply.
Lawn | 90% |
Pond | 29% |
Rockery | 19% |
Vegetable / fruit patch | 53% |
Patio | 66% |
Greenhouse | 56% |
Wild area | 56% |
None of the above | 2% |
Other | See question 5 for results |
5. Which of these features do you have in your garden and how many different types / species?
Features | 1 to 3 | 4 or more |
Trees | 48% | 39% |
Hedges | 47% | 15% |
Shrubs | 23% | 71% |
Perennials (flower every year) | 19% | 81% |
Annuals (flower once then die) | 27% | 47% |
Wild flowers | 31% | 50% |
Climbers - ivy, clematis etc. | 34% | 53% |
Fruiting trees, bushes / shrubs (or with berries) | 42% | 31% |
6. Which of these do you have in your garden to attract wildlife? Tick all that apply.
Bird feeders / table | 73% |
Bird box / bat box | 44% |
Pond / bog or wet area | 26% |
Unmown, long grass area | 40% |
Plants / flowers to attract wildlife | 89% |
Dead wood / log pile / tree stump | 53% |
Hedgehog box | 24% |
7. How often do you see the following in your garden / near your house? Tick only one answer in each row.
Species | Regularly | Occasionally | Rarely | Never |
Garden birds | 97% | 3% | 0% | 0% |
Butterflies | 68% | 30% | 0% | 0% |
Bees / wasps / hoverflies | 84% | 8% | 2% | 0% |
Frogs / toads | 11% | 10% | 24% | 31% |
Newts | 6% | 6% | 10% | 45% |
Hedgehogs | 16% | 18% | 24% | 24% |
Squirrels | 19% | 18% | 19% | 21% |
Foxes | 53% | 19% | 8% | 11% |
8. Do you use any of the following in you garden? Tick only one answer in each row.
| Regularly | Occasionally | Rarely | Never |
Own compost | 48% | 13% | 8% | 13% |
Animal manure | 10% | 10% | 11% | 34% |
Green manure | 13% | 8% | 6% | 39% |
Pesticides / fungicides | 0% | 5% | 16% | 47% |
Weed killer with glyphosate (eg. Roundup) | 0% | 11% | 16% | 45% |
Peat-free compost | 50% | 21% | 0% | 6% |
9. How often do you cut your lawn / grass in summer? Tick only one.
Once a week | 74% |
Once / twice a month | 34% |
Once in summer when seeds have set | 66% |
Beginning and end of the season | 73% |
Not applicable / no grass | 63% |
10. When I want new plants I... (Tick all that apply)
Get them from a local garden centre | 74% |
Order online | 34% |
Grow from seed | 66% |
Divide existing plants | 73% |
Get them from friends or family | 63% |
11. How much do you know about wildlife gardening? Tick only one.
Nothing at all | | | | A great deal |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
5% | 14% | 45% | 29% | 7% |
12. Wildlife Gardening: which of these would you be interested in? Tick all that apply
Adding more wildlife features eg. small pond, log pile, nest boxes etc. | 41% |
Attending a free 'Wildlife Gardening' workshop to learn more | 32% |
Being a 'Wildlife Gardening' ambassador for my street | 6% |
Doing a wildlife survey in my garden | 38% |
Getting a wildlife gardening e-newsletter | 33% |
Other - Promoting hedgehog highways | 2% |
39 people signed up to hear more updates about wildlife gardening and Greening Selsey.