Prof Duncan Westbury
@DuncanWestbury
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Professor of Sustainable Agriculture. Grassland Specialist. Expert Wildlife Gardener. Views are my own.
Malvern, England
Joined May 2018
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1/3 Given the notable insect decline across most of the UK I urge all farmers, councils & landowners to delay cutting meadows, road verges etc to at least August
@BumblebeeTrust
have already said numbers of queen bumbles in spring were ok. We are now all seeing a lack of workers
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Last week on a train back from Brighton I got chatting to a gentleman that lives fairly close to me. He owns some land on which this meadow is flourishing! No organisation has ever documented this parcel of land (about 9 acres), and I can't wait to visit in the summer!
@WorcsWT
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Should garden centres etc stop selling invasive non-native species? Laurel is one of my BIG dislikes!
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In my raspberries today, an elephant hawk moth caterpillar!
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
@ukmoths
@MothIDUK
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It’s started! Today I spoke to the manager of a small garden centre & they totally understood the issues of Laurel. They will now look to take this further. I’m hoping this will be my first outlet to stop selling it!
#NoLaurelWorc
@NaturalEngland
@DefraNature
@WorcsWT
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Many birds need short turf and not tall wildflower meadows. If you can't devote your lawn to wildflowers please consider not killing off any ants. This green woodpecker is having a feast today!
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
@IoloWilliams2
@Natures_Voice
@Kate_Bradbury
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I’ve had enough of improper use of herbicides. 2 years ago this hedge bank was amazing and then it got sprayed.
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An ancient woodland indicator, Wood anemone, why because it mainly grows vegetatively and spreads slowly. Every year I take a photo of this same patch. 3-yrs between these photos
@BSBIbotany
@LGSpace
@WoodlandTrust
@BiodiversitySoS
@blue_campaign1
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The
#BumbleBird
patch from a different perspective! This time from within my wildflower strip!
My
#BumbleBird
patch as recently seen on
#GardenersWorld
. Feeding the birds, bees, & butterflies, plus lots more! Year 2 very different with the biennials now dominating.
@CotswoldSeeds
@BumblebeeTrust
@Natures_Voice
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How to get rid of a parking problem...sow a wildflower mix!
@worcester_uni
@EstatesUw
#WorcestershireHour
@WorcsWT
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
@blue_campaign1
@B_Strawbridge
@UW_Sustain
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Truly excited - I'm on Gardeners' World tomorrow night at 9pm
@BBC2
to tell everyone about the gardening for wildlife I do at home.
@GWandShows
@TheMontyDon
#GardenersWorld
#EnvManSus
@worcester_uni
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An ancient woodland indicator, Wood anemone. Why? Because it mainly grows vegetatively and spreads slowly. Every year I take a photo of this same patch. Photos below from 2017 & 2024
@BSBIbotany
@LGSpace
@WoodlandTrust
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Lawns can flower if you just raise the cutting height to at least 6cm. Please try!
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An ancient woodland indicator, Wood anemone. Why? Because it mainly grows vegetatively and spreads slowly. Every year I take a photo of this same patch. Photos below from 2023, 2020 & 2017
@BSBIbotany
@LGSpace
@WoodlandTrust
@BiodiversitySoS
@blue_campaign1
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It works! I’ve just been following a hedgehog around the garden and it used the gap I left in our new fence! Please do what you can to help our hedgehogs!
@BiodiversitySoS
@LGSpace
@hedgehogsociety
@Kate_Bradbury
@IoloWilliams2
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Wildflower "lawns"- not just for bees! BUT, birds need the bees!
@Natures_Voice
@_BTO
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
@WorcsWT
@Kate_Bradbury
@WildlifeMag
@HerefordshireWT
@B_Strawbridge
@martinRSPB
@SteveOrmerod
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Surely every garden needs this “weed”? Red dead nettle (Lamium purpureum) which is already feeding early emerged queen bumblebees on our
#WorcUniversity
campus.
@BumblebeeTrust
@WorcsWT
@LGSpace
@BiodiversitySoS
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My favourite area of our garden...it used to be a lawn.
@LGSpace
@katemacrae
@BiodiversitySoS
@blue_campaign1
@ARC_Bytes
@WorcsWT
@WLGForum
@Garden4Wildlife
@B_Strawbridge
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Consider this. If you can’t resist cutting your lawn every week, raise the cutting height to max. Many more flowers with high cut than short, but no cut still better!
@Love_plants
@BiodiversitySoS
@LGSpace
@NatureUK
@Team4Nature
@WorcsWT
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We are fast approaching the hungry gap for birds, and if like me you kept your teasels uncut, you might be thanked by goldfinches
@Natures_Voice
@DaveGoulson
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
@WorcsWT
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If you don’t have space for wildflower areas or lawns, consider creating your own wildflower hanging basket.
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
@WorcsWT
@Kate_Bradbury
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Congratulations University of Warwick this is simply great! I even saw a bumblebee, yes one! Vipers bugloss & wild carrot
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@harmsy
@NaturalEngland
@DefraNature
@WorcsWT
Thanks for the interest! It’s a non-native invasive species that is contributing to the biodiversity emergency by spreading into woodlands, hedgerows, scrub etc. It out competes other plant species reducing diversity. If you like bluebell woods you shouldn’t like Laurel!
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What was once lawn is now in Year 2 as a
#BumbleBird
patch as recently featured on
#GardenersWorld
@GWandShows
(Episode 7). It’s alive!!
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Dandelions are great, but at the moment in Malvern, red dead nettle is flowering profusely! Yet to see dandelions….
#DoNotCut
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Oh dear Alan, I can’t believe what you have been reported as stating “A rewilded garden will offer nothing but straw and hay from August to March”.
@TitchmarshShow
@LGSpace
@katemacrae
@Kate_Bradbury
@joshual951
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Last year this was a closely mown lawn
@worcester_uni
We changed that, a classic ‘Rags to Riches’ story for biodiversity!
@BiodiversitySoS
@LGSpace
@MeadowInGarden
@WorcsWT
@UW_Sustain
@uowcampus
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Not a lot of people know this: Yellow rattle
#Rhinanthus
doesn’t just parasitise grass, host selection is random! If it latches onto a legume like white clover (as in picture) it does much better than on grass. It can form connections with multiple hosts too.
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I’ve grown on lots of native wildflower plants for a local independent garden centre to encourage more people to go native with their borders this spring
#NotForProfit
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This sign is working! Normally this patch would have been cut at least three times by now, but wildlife prevails! Great to see the sequence from dandelions to buttercups! What will be next!?
@WorcsWT
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8 years in the making and still getting better!
@LGSpace
@MeadowInGarden
@michaelastracha
@Kate_Bradbury
@IoloWilliams2
@WorcsWT
@Team4Nature
#wildflowerhour
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Part 1 - My meadow, what I did to create this wildflower strip
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
@Team4NatureBham
@ExtinctionR
@Kate_Bradbury
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This is what we call an
#EcologicalTrap
. The species commits but doesn’t know what’s round the corner, a bit like what
#NoMowMay
does to many species each year if people cut on June 1st
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Truly delighted I didn’t kill it! I was digging in my veg patch and disturbed what I thought was a normal worm; turned out to be a slow worm! It was about 10cm deep
@ARC_Bytes
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Today I covered all my drains with mesh to save thousands of lives. Please do the same! Raise awareness, please RT.
@WorcsWT
@BiodiversitySoS
@Team4Nature
@LGSpace
@IoloWilliams2
@B_Strawbridge
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Newland Meadow needs your HELP!!!
With disbelief I read the ecology report for 130 homes on this ancient species-rich meadow: "Limited herb content"
We cannot lose grassland like this. Please follow the link & submit an OBJECTION.
@SaveThisMeadow
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This autumn I created additional habitat piles in my garden to support newts, hedgehogs, voles, mice, and mini beasts!
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
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It must be remembered that yellow rattle
#Rhinanthus
also supports numerous insects directly! It’s not just a “meadow maker”
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If looking for a late flowering, soil improving species for your garden, chicory is great for garden beneficials too!
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
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Cut your lawn higher to feed wildlife! Here a 'family' of sparrows are only able to feed on unripe seed of sticky mouse-ear chickweed (Cerastium glomerata) becuase I cut high.
#MakeAChange4Wildlife
#SpeciesRichLawn
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I put up a new fence & side gate, but made allowances for our hedgehogs!
@hedgehogsociety
@BiodiversitySoS
@LGSpace
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This tweet has caused a lot of discussion as intended. If pheasant release is so good for the UK flora & fauna how many should we release to reverse the decline in farmland birds and other species? What about 150 million?
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Back at University today for the first time in nearly 6 months. Great to see this wildflower strip survived, but that is the beauty of going wild, nature looks after itself!
@LGSpace
@UW_Sustain
@worcester_uni
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Please can someone explain to me why it is NOT standard practice for all new builds to be fitted with solar panels? We have to offset biodiversity, but what about the climate impacts? It should be mandatory for all ‘affordable housing’
@GeorgeMonbiot
@RosieP4
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Here’s one I made earlier!
@LGSpace
@WildlifeTrusts
@MeadowInGarden
@blue_campaign1
@IoloWilliams2
@B_Strawbridge
@michaelastracha
@TheMontyDon
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Busy bees. These Andrenids (mining bees) have popped up in my lawn in 24hrs. They will only nest in short turf, so don’t feel bad if you can’t leave all your lawn uncut!
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
@JeffOllerton
@StevenFalk1
@NHM_Bees
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This used to be lawn but created a mini-woodland canopy with hazel, small-leaved lime, wild service trees, and a beech.
#MakeAChange4Wildlife
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This used to be a herbaceous border of non-natives transformed into a wildlife strip!
@LGSpace
@BiodiversitySoS
@Love_plants
@MeadowInGarden
#GardenersWorld
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Great to see Monty advocating yellow rattle on
#GardenersWorld
this evening, but a few points to note: 1) It doesn’t just parasitise grass 2) It doesn’t need bare ground to germinate, it needs gaps in the sward to establish better, and 3) Don’t sow under trees it needs full light
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Looking for newts in my wildlife pond and found a water scorpion! Common in the UK, but a new species to me!
@PondRiverStream
@WorcsWT
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Absolutely delighted, I have just been given permission to turn this area of regularly mown grass into a field of poppies (native of course!)
@worcester_uni
@UW_Sustain
@LGSpace
@blue_campaign1
@WorcsWT
#EnvManSus
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Surely acts of dedication like this should be rewarded with a reduction in their council tax? They are saving the council so much!
@HfdsCouncil
@bbcmtd
@bbchw
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The key thing about this oak being so old and big is that it has a history of being pollarded. These days this rarely happens. We MUST do more pollarding, yes it impacts the look of the tree for this generation but….
@WoodlandTrust
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If you liked the
#EarwigShelter
I demonstrated on
#GardenersWorld
, here’s a much smaller one that can be hung directly on plants like broad beans, peas, blueberries, blackcurrants etc
@GWandShows
@TheMontyDon
@The_RHS
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If you could release 47 million individuals of any UK species into the wild each year, without having to worry about the impacts, what would it be!?
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Marbled White enjoying nectar from this Teasel in my
#BumbleBird
patch, perhaps it should be renamed a
#BumbleButBird
patch!
@BumblebeeTrust
@savebutterflies
@Natures_Voice
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I left a gap under this gate for hedgehogs & glad I did!
@BiodiversitySoS
@LGSpace
@hedgehogsociety
@Kate_Bradbury
@IoloWilliams2
@HedgehogCabin
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When do we draw the line & say no more loss of species-rich grassland? This land in Newland, Malvern is being surveyed for a housing development. I am left speechless.
@WorcsWT
@NEFieldUnit
@NaturalEngland
@spp_Rich
@clare_pinches
@BiodiversitySoS
@NatureUK
@Love_plants
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Mulched mown lawn or wildflower strips -what looks best at the University of Worcester? Still need to convince managers that we need to make space for more wildflower areas. Please see poll linked to this tweet & RT.
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
@Team4NatureBham
@WorcsWT
@worcester_uni
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Hungry for pollen. Late flowering common poppy helps support beneficial species in my garden today.
#IndianSummer
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
@Kate_Bradbury
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I love it when the field scabious starts showing itself in our meadow & the Lady’s bedstraw smells divine! Yes this used to be lawn.
@Love_plants
@BSBIbotany
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3/3 We need as much pollen & nectar in the landscape to help colonies survive & cutting now could be devastating for those remaining. Many farmers have taken early hay cuts this year too…
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Just did the nightly check on the hedgehog feeding station and tonight I have just been confronted with a GCN out in the open!
@PondRiverStream
@ARC_Bytes
@WorcsWT
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2/3 This means we are likely to carry fewer queen bumbles into the winter & fewer into spring 2025. This year most spring flowering crops got the pollination they needed, but next year we could see impacts.
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This is a must for your meadow, not only for its looks but for the smell! Get a waft and it’s hypnotising! Perhaps this is where it gets its name from, Lady’s bedstraw?
@WorcsWT
@BSBIbotany
@donnarainey4
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Yesterday, my 10 year old daughter & I planted up this strip of lawn with around 150 homegrown wildflower plug plants after cutting the turf as short as possible.
#MakeAChange4Wildlife
@LGSpace
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The ‘Rags to Riches’ biodiversity story continues
@worcester_uni
. Last year this area was closely mown lawn and after sowing with a cornfield mix, yarrow already present is now delivering!
@BiodiversitySoS
@LGSpace
@MeadowInGarden
@WorcsWT
@UW_Sustain
@uowcampus
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Go peat-free this spring. No excuses, yes it costs slightly more but Westland now boasts that it out performs peat-based composts. My tomatoes agree!
@LGSpace
@BiodiversitySoS
@GWmag
@DaveGoulson
@OurSacredGrove
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And this is why I allow species like poppy to grow in my vegetable patch!
#MakeADifference4Wildlife
@WorcsWT
@LGSpace
#GardenersWorld
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Oh my gosh one bee in my garden despite all this wonderful resource!
#WhereHaveAllTheBeesGone
@BumblebeeTrust
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Who takes a walk with a black permanent marker in their pocket? Clearly one of the locals that needs educating!
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If you have just finished watering your flowerbeds then perhaps think about going native! No water, fertilisers, or pesticides needed on our “flowerbed”!
@LGSpace
@Garden4Wildlife
@MeadowInGarden
@TheMontyDon
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Wow! The meadow vole was enjoying the morning sun at the edge of my meadow left uncut for winter! Wildlife needs variety just like humans.
@Mammal_Society
@WorcsWT
@LGSpace
@BiodiversitySoS
@blue_campaign1
@IoloWilliams2
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Cutting the lawn - look at the different structure when cut on the highest setting (70mm) versus the shortest (20mm). For wildlife and carbon capture & storage this makes a big difference!
@LGSpace
@thecarbontrust
@BiodiversitySoS
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Congratulations to
@GWandShows
and
@TheMontyDon
this evening for dedicating so much time on exploring peat-free composts. Thank you!
#GardenersWorld
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If you love goldfinches, now is a great time to sow black knapweed (Cenaturea nigra) so they have something to eat in your garden this July/August! This was filmed in my wildflower strip last year.
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If you grow coriander let some flower. It’s superb for hoverflies which will lay eggs on nearby plants or in lagoons. Their larvae are great predators of pests, especially aphids.
@AHDB_Hort
@GWandShows
@HoverflyLagoons
@Team4Nature
@LGSpace
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If you want to get some great nectar plants for your garden, check out our free access paper from the Urban Pollinators Project
@LGSpace
@BiodiversitySoS
@MeadowInGarden
@WorcsWT
@Love_plants
@BBCSpringwatch
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So lovely to come home this evening & find that my bespoke lawn seed mix has arrived for sowing! The area will be maintained as lawn, but cut to a height of 70mm. Will be interesting to see if the knapweed, scabious & hawkbits can still flower.
@LGSpace
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I know I should make it scientific and do timed surveys at different times of the day etc, but worryingly, I am yet to see a bumblebee on my wildflower strip
@BumblebeeTrust
@RichardComont
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Did you know that acorns grow their roots from autumn and their shoots in spring? This gives them a good start when competing against other vegetation - the race for light. Today I have potted on these local sourced acorns into deeper pots.
@WoodlandTrust
@TheKentAcorn
@WorcsWT
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17
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Delighted to have just won the ‘Sustainability Award’ in the Students’ Choice Awards 2023 for my contribution to the University of Worcester and the wider community!
@worcsu
@worcester_uni
@UW_Sustain
#EnvManSus
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A compromise. Lawn and wildflower area, delivering multiple benefits for one and all!
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
@christophhowell
@SteveOrmerod
@WorcsWT
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If you like bumblebees it’s not too late to sow foxgloves ready to flower next year. I sowed these last year and now see the benefits!
@WorcsWT
@LGSpace
@blue_campaign1
@BumblebeeTrust
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I set this up for a colleague last night as we are lucky to support hedgehogs in the garden. Success on getting some prints first time!
@Mammal_Society
@hedgehogsociety
6
14
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Ok Twitter, please tell me where these “wild flowers” being sold in the UK
@LoveWilko
are actually wild?
@joshual951
@gerrymiah31
@BSBIscience
@BSBIbotany
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@mwhbtn
@NaturalEngland
@DefraNature
@WorcsWT
They should just pull out, if not try and dig out as much as possible. Replace with box, yew, holly, or wild privet. All of these can be UK native.
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The sequence: 1) Very bare arable soils, 2) No water retention across land, 3) Flooding. Why can’t we get things right? Worryingly, developers want to put 1,000 homes over both parcels of land shown below!
@NFUtweets
@DefraGovUK
@EnvAgencyMids
@MalvernHills_DC
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This used to be our front lawn and 7-yrs on having planted hazel, small-leaved lime, primroses, snow drops, bluebells and yellow archangel, it is slowly becoming a mini woodland
@BiodiversitySoS
@LGSpace
@Team4Nature
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About 10 years ago I drilled lots of deep holes in this ash stump in the year it was felled. It must now be the world’s best created bug hotel!
@Buzz_dont_tweet
@LGSpace
@NatureUK
@WildlifeTrusts
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What concerns me is the fact that SO many organisations including councils just don’t have the knowledge/understanding of what is needed & what can be achieved by changing regimes.
@joshual951
Last year I pointed out that
@nationaltrust
’s mowing regime is destroying this ancient heath at Speke Hall, the last example of its kind in Merseyside. It wouldn’t take much to stop mowing here & increase heath without compromising on space. Wld be great to receive a response🌱❤️
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I will start small, but am considering engaging with all garden centres etc in Worcestershire to try & stop the sale of Cherry Laurel in this wonderful county.
#WorcestershireHour
Should garden centres etc stop selling invasive non-native species? Laurel is one of my BIG dislikes!
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Stripping out hedgerows and removing trees is happening far too often and it all impacts on biodiversity, but also increases sound and air pollution. What role do councils have? We are still heading for a very sterile earth.
@BiodiversitySoS
@LGSpace
@NatureUK
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