We will be presenting an award to the most nature-friendly park in the city this summer. The ‘Save our Wild Isles’ campaign, launched alongside David Attenborough’s new Wild Isles documentary series, encourages everyone to ‘go wild once a week’. We will be highlighting wildlife to visit on our doorsteps in Leicester.
There is so much excellent work happening in Leicester’s parks to encourage wildlife and we want to celebrate that. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and more than one in seven of our native species is facing extinction. It is therefore more important than ever that we make space for nature in our cities. We need to allow wildlife to thrive alongside us.
We will be looking at parks between 8 and 20 hectares, to ensure that we are not trying to compare the smallest and largest parks in the city and to make the process as fair as possible. We are creating an assessment scheme, working with local botanists, birdwatchers and ecologists, to determine how to choose the most nature-friendly park. We will look at the types of habitats in each park, from ponds to meadows to trees. We will visit each park twice, at different times of day, and try to record the species that they see and hear. (If you want to get involved in this work, please get in touch!)
We have also created a survey for park users, to collect their views on the space for nature in their local park and what else they would like to see. After the award has been presented, we will share the survey data with the City Council.
When we visit each park, we will keep notes on the wildlife that we have seen and share them here on our blog and social media afterwards. We hope that this will encourage people to learn more about the biodiversity on their doorstep. It is widely recognised that feeling more connected to nature is beneficial for our mental health. We are also more likely to protect what we love. Where better to start learning more about nature than in your local park?
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