My Wild Garden Campaign
We wanted to share this project that was sent to us by the Manchester City council that encourages wildlfe in our gardens. Read on to see how you can get involved by registering with them. The photo at the top is by Alison Kershaw.
What is the My Wild Garden campaign?
My Wild Garden is an annual campaign organised each year by My Wild City - a collaborative partnership between Manchester City Council and The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester, and North Merseyside, funded by Esmee Fairbairn. We want people to act for wildlife in their gardens. This year, our focus is on connecting the green and blue dots that spread throughout Manchester and beyond to support the Local Nature Recovery Network plans for the city. Gardens, yards, balconies, and window boxes are all vital for linking up the landscape and allowing wildlife to thrive. From fitting a bird box, building a container pond, or planting pollinator-friendly flowers - these small actions all add up to transform our city into a wild place to live, work, study, and play. How does it work?
By sharing wildlife-friendly gardening content across our social media channels - #MyWildGarden, we hope to give people some wild ideas! Our content includes blogs, guides, podcasts, YouTube videos and infographics which all focus on the joys and simplicity of gardening for wildlife. As part of the campaign, we also encourage people to join the movement, pledging to transform their garden for wildlife by signing up for a free My Wild Garden guide - so far over 1,500 people have taken part! At this stage, people can also opt-in to receive regular updates from us about the My Wild City project and wildlife gardening tips. My Wild Garden week You might remember our My Wild Garden Week from last year which was a real success. This year, My Wild Garden week will take place from April 12th - April 18th and will include Facebook Lives every morning from a wild garden in Manchester and some free online events (see details below):
Play Wild, Monday 12th April, 10am. Our My Wild City team join environmental educator and artist, Lesley Martin for some games and crafts designed to bring nature closer to in your garden. Great for families with young children. Completely free but registration is required.
Gardening for wildlife, Wednesday 14th April 6-7pm. Our My Wild City team sit down with keen wildlife gardener and entomologist, Steve Garland, and peat-free campaigner, Jenny Bennion, from the Wildlife Trust's Peatlands Team to talk about how you can transform your space for wildlife. Free event, register here.