Natural England - Forum for Gardening with Wildlife in Mind

Forum for Gardening with Wildlife in Mind

This forum brings together a wide variety of organisations and individuals with an interest in gardens and gardening.

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Hummingbird Hawk-moth

Natural England is a leading member of the forum, which also includes government agencies, horticultural and scientific bodies, nature conservation NGOs, commercial companies and horticultural journalists.

All share the forum's objectives to:

  • Cultivate a responsible attitude to the natural environment on the part of gardeners and the garden industry.
  • Gather evidence supporting the benefits to people and biodiversity of gardening with wildlife in mind.
  • Relay this evidence, so people can make well-informed choices about their gardening activities.
  • Help link people and nature through gardens, to encourage a deeper appreciation of biodiversity and sustainability.

Manifesto

The forum's manifesto for gardens, people and nature, Let our gardens live, focuses on the important – but often unacknowledged – role that gardens play in:

  • Making towns and cities more pleasant places to live.
  • Bringing people, especially children, into contact with wildlife.
  • Contributing to our physical, mental and spiritual health.

The manifesto aims to:

  • Draw public attention to the importance of gardens for wildlife, for people and for the urban environment generally and to the threats that gardens currently face, especially from paving and development.
  • Set out an agreed agenda for future action.
  • Act as a rallying flag under which many different and disparate organisations can gather.

Organisations involved

To date, 48 organisations have pledged their support by signing the manifesto. They are:

  • Amateur Entomologists’ Society
  • Baines Environmental Ltd
  • Beechcroft Developments
  • British Dragonfly Society
  • British Trust for Ornithology
  • Buglife
  • Bumblebee Conservation Trust
  • Butterfly Conservation
  • Chester Zoological Gardens
  • CJ WildBird Foods Limited
  • Cottage Garden Society
  • Countryside Council for Wales
  • Cultivations
  • David's Country Store
  • Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield
  • Educational Centres Association
  • Environment Agency
  • Environment and Heritage Service
  • Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens
  • Field Studies Council
  • Froglife
  • Garden Organic
  • Landlife
  • Living Roofs
  • National Federation of Women's Institutes
  • National Society for Allotment and Leisure Gardeners
  • National Trust
  • Natural England
  • Natural History Museum
  • Notcutts Garden Centres Ltd 
  • People’s Trust for Endangered Species
  • Plantlife 
  • Plant for wildlife - welsh version 
  • Pond Conservation
  • Royal Entomological Society
  • Royal Horticultural Society
  • RSPB 
  • Snowdonia Wildlife Gardening Partnership
  • The Herpetological Conservation Trust 
  • The Mammal Society 
  • Turfgrass Growers Association 
  • University of Leeds, Faculty of Biological Sciences and School of Earth and Environment 
  • Wildforms - Gardening for Wildlife 
  • The Wildlife Trusts 
  • Wiggly Wigglers 
  • Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust 
  • Woking Local Agenda 21 
  • Woodland Trust 
  • Zoological Society of London

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