Wildlife Gardens Awards
About Us
What are the Wildlife Gardens Awards?
The Wildlife Gardens Awards are free to enter and promote 24 simple, low-cost wildlife-friendly features for you to incorporate in your outdoor space, including feeding the birds, providing water and shelter, and minimising the use of chemicals.
You may have some of our recommended wildlife friendly features in your outdoor space already, or could easily add some to give wildlife the best chance this year.
Why are the Wildlife Gardens Awards important?
There are thousands of gardens in our Borough and gardens make up 30% of urban green space in England. If we all put wildlife at the heart of our gardens, allotments, balconies, office courtyards and shared green spaces then we will be supporting biodiversity and helping to address the impact of climate change on nature.
By taking part you’ll help us to understand what local people are doing to make a difference for nature, and contribute to the targets set in our local Biodiversity Action Plan. The Wildlife Gardens Awards are a measure of your commitment, a celebration of achievement and recognition of the valuable role that urban gardeners can play in protecting and improving biodiversity across our Borough.
Wildlife Gardens Awards Checklist
The Wildlife Gardens Awards promote 24 simple, low-cost wildlife-friendly features for you to incorporate in your outdoor space, including feeding the birds, providing water and shelter, and minimising the use of chemicals. Most of the features on our checklist can be included even in tiny spaces, because every pollen-rich native plant, every pile of stones and twigs, and every saucer of water can help wildlife.
For example, some worker bees are tasked with collecting water for their hive, and will visit a saucer of shallow water filled with pebbles time and again, industriously playing their part in hive health. They even have a special ‘waggle dance’ to direct other bees to the water source.
Depending on how many wildlife friendly features you have in your outdoor space, you could receive a bronze, silver or gold certificate, recognising that you are a champion for wildlife. Every entry receives acknowledgement and suggestions for further wildlife friendly steps that they could take.
To find out what simple features you could include in your garden to create a wildlife habitat, take a look at our checklist.
For people putting wildlife at the heart of their outdoor spaces