100s of species found in first ever Suburb wide biodiversity surveys
A critical part of the Britain’s Biggest Living Garden project is rigorous and regular measurement of our biodiversity levels in the area in order to:
Establish the extent of biodiversity in HGS, enabling us to see if we are achieving our ambition to be the “most biodiverse urban area of the UK”
Provide much needed data on biodiversity in urban areas to central monitoring bodies, for use in scientific research, given that most data collection tends to take place in non-residential sites
Track our progress in increasing local biodiversity through community action over the coming years, to act as a national case study for how communities can have a significant and measurable impact on their environment
In August 2024 the RA commissioned ecologists from Frognal Gardens to conduct four “bioblitz” style surveys at four representative sites across the Suburb.
Kids Community Wildlife Garden next to St Judes, which has recently been converted from a simple lawn to a wildlife friendly space
Marginal woodland surrounding the Church Rooms off Central Square, which has seen negligible management over recent years and thus little disturbance
Henrietta Barnett Community Orchard and Wildlife Garden in Lyttelton Playing Fields, which Barnet has recently devolved management of, and where a meadow is starting to develop
Three neighbouring average sized gardens of different styles
The survey results can be downloaded below, and it is very pleasing to see such a wide variety of species were discovered, even in a year which has been fairly challenging for wildlife (given the weather conditions). Barnet Council’s Biodiversity Officer remarked that these reports show a much higher level of biodiversity than is seen in other parts of the borough, validating our assumptions that we can achieve real leadership here, and over time incorporate some features of the Suburb into planning principles elsewhere.
As was to be expected the levels of biodiversity was highest in the semi-woodland site given the lack of intervention, and that the development of the other areas to be more wildlife friendly has only commenced recently. We would expect to see these improve significantly in future years, and think there is opportunity to improve the semi-woodland site even further by providing a wider variety of plants and habitats.
It is notable that even in one of the three gardens which has only a simple lawn, the level of biodiversity discovered was surprisingly high in large part thanks to the amazing habitats provided by our ubiquitous hedging. And in a neighbouring garden, well planted for wildlife, featuring a small pond in a pot and chemical free the biodiversity recorded was seen to be almost twice as high as this already high level - showing that we all have the potential to make small changes and create our very own nature reserve outside our back door.
There remains much work to be done - both locally and nationally - but we are certainly off to a very strong start and none of this would be possible without the fantastic engagement of local organisations and residents, so many thanks to you all!
