Isle of Wight Housebuilder Brings Nature To Doorsteps

An Island housebuilder has launched a project designed to advise and inspire people to turn their outdoor spaces into havens for wildlife – whether it be a garden, balcony, yard, or community green space.

In partnership with the RSPB, the Nature on Your Doorstep project comes after people rediscovered local nature during the pandemic.

In 2020 alone, over 1.7 million people sought advice from the RSPB website on how to make their garden more wildlife-friendly, and in January the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch saw a record-breaking one million people take part and count the birds in their garden.

According to a recent YouGov poll, two thirds of people in the UK said nature was a source of solace during the Covid crisis, with more than half of those surveyed (51%) believing the pandemic made them more aware of the nature around them. A recent study from Princeton University, USA, also found that gardening is one of the top five activities for increasing emotional wellbeing.

The Mental Health Foundation has chosen ‘nature’ for the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week, in recognition of how nature helped people through the pandemic.

Nature on Your Doorstep will give people access to how-to gardening guides, easy step-by-step videos, seasonal gardening advice, and an online community dedicated to bringing people together to ask questions, seek advice, and share their successes (and learning experiences).

Already available are four of the ten ‘Wildlife Action’ articles and how-to videos from Adrian Thomas, the RSPB’s wildlife gardening expert. Visitors to the page will also be able to sign up to receive a monthly newsletter full of useful tips and tricks. 

Over the next three years, the project will continue to grow into a go-to place for gardening for wildlife. The project will host everything from customisable content to seasonal advice, as well as conducting research into what drives or prevents people from welcoming wildlife to their outside spaces and investigating how to empower local communities to make shared spaces a home for wildlife.

Jon Green, Managing Director at Barratt Homes, Southampton Division, said:

“We want to empower people to give nature a home by creating an online community for them to learn and share their experiences. We’ll be giving them digital tools which they can then take into the garden to get their hands dirty.”

The RSPB and Barratt Developments have been working together since 2014 to show how new homes can help nature and support wildlife. Their support has allowed the RSPB to breathe new life into its wildlife-friendly gardening work through the creation of Nature on Your Doorstep.

To turn your patch into paradise for you and your wildlife, please go to: rspb.org.uk/yourdoorstep.

Barratt Homes is building homes on the Isle of Wight at St George’s Gate in Newport.