The Steel Valley Project - the potential to enhance the level of biodiversity in Stocksbridge

BUGS - Biodiversity in Urban gardens

For more information about biodiversity in urban areas see the data from the local BUGS project.
The project was based in the University of Sheffield and concentrated on trying to understand the potential role of domestic gardens in supporting high levels of biodiversity within urban areas.
The findings showed that city gardens which were managed so that they supported lots of ground cover, shrubs, ponds, herbaceous plants and trees, rather than those consisting of nothing more than an area of mown grass or paving, were much richer in biodiversity than most countryside areas.

Our gardens are an untapped resource which can be changed by their owners to become rich in habitats capable of supporting wildlife.

How to make wildlife gardens - for guidance from the Royal Horticultural Society, and the BBC's information on how to garden for wildlife

The BUGS study is important for landscape management within Stocksbridge. It shows that the natural/ or 'wild' landscape type, often presented by nature conservation-based landscape managers as the solution to enhancing the biodiversity value of a greenspace, is not the only landscape type that supports biodiversity. The fact that gardens can be so rich a support for biodiversity means that we can choose the landscape type that is appropriate for our local open greenspace and that we can mix the landscape types we use in urban areas. This overcomes many of the problems that people have had in that they do not want untidy looking greenspace on their doorstep, although they like nature. A gradation of landscape types (from looking 'wild' to gardenesque) could be used within Stocksbridge - it is up to local people to decide what they find appropriate. An individual greenspace can support several different landscape types - it is a design problem, but it is also a financial problem, since a gardenesque landscape costs more to make and takes much more effort by the local community if they are to be looked after properly.

The way local unbuilt land is used and managed (private gardens, as well as public open green spaces) needs to change if levels of biodiversity are to be increased. Such change can only benefit the local people by adding to their quality of life (contact with nature and the everyday use of attractive places have been shown to be factors enhancing people's experience of their home environment).

The potential

SVP's task

Gardens and biodiversity

Assessment of
potential

 
 
The Ecological
survey

Text, Maps and Photographs (unless stated otherwise) © Steel Valley Partnership Stocksbridge, all rights reserved. Terms of use: Any involved in education or training may copy the contents of these web pages, with the proviso that they always make reference to the original copyright.