also being encouraged to be wilder by the
RSPB’s business conservation adviser,
Dr Marie Athorn: “Small alterations in
intensity and timing of management could
provide valuable habitat for at-risk species.
Many golf clubs have introduced the idea of
ecological rough areas, managed to enable
local flora and fauna to flourish and vital for
rare invertebrates, especially bees.”
Nick Marriner of the Chilterns
Conservation Board has funding to offer
clubs ecological support for habitat creation
on golf courses. “Golf clubs often get a bad
press for their wildlife management but I
am really keen to dispel this myth,” he says,
citing one Oxfordshire golf course where he
regularly records over 50 bird species on a
morning walk.F
or most of the world’s population,
daily nature contact is urban.
There is no national policy or
law to invest in bringing more
wildlife back to these green
spaces, other than a vague duty on
councils to maintain and enhance
biodiversity on their land. The efforts
I saw when researching this piece were
led mostly by community groups, charities
and individuals. This is where and how
ecological emergency transformation
seems to be happening.
If a city were viewed as a wild creature, its
heart might be its people; the fresh flowing
rivers and flower-lined paths its veins. Its
immune system and lungs would be in the
parks and other green spaces. These would
be its natural health system. Wherenature
breathes and thrives, we do too.ALEX MORSS is an ecologist,
science journalist and author
who champions wilder parks.WANT TO COMMENT?
How do you think we should use
our urban green spaces?
Email us at wildlifeletters@
immediate.co.uk