Our towns and villages have increased nature-rich spaces, so wildlife can travel between buildings, roads, parks, gardens and the wider countryside.  
This priority is to make more nature-rich spaces in our towns and villages, to provide wildlife habitat between buildings and roads. This can be achieved through various actions such as changing how we manage gardens and recreation spaces like parks and golf courses or including more street trees and natural drainage.  

Connecting urban nature areas with wilder natural habitats in the countryside not only supports wildlife but also enhances our interaction with nature. Increasing connection with nature can benefit people’s mental and physical health and help address inequalities.  

Spending time enjoying natural spaces or being surrounded by natural features like green walls and ponds provides direct health benefits. Whilst increasing space for nature near our homes and communities can provide indirect health benefits such as protection from air or water pollution, shading from extreme heat, flood protection, climate adaptation, job creation and increased economic activity. 

Typical urban species

Common frog
Common frog
Hedgehog
Hedgehog
Slow worm
Slow worm

Nature recovery in action

Wildlife garden at Kinson Recreation Ground: Kinson recreation ground is 3 hectares of urban park with short cut amenity grass and no trees or hedges on site. An underused corner of the site has been transformed from a green desert into a wildlife-rich site, now featuring a pond, meadow, fruit trees, hedges, along with sunny banks and rocky habitats. There is seating and an information board inviting people to pause, relax, and connect with nature. 

This project, funded by the Green Recovery Challenge Fund in 2022 and delivered by The Parks Foundation who are a charity improving BCP’s parks, is part of the BCP Nature Recovery Network. It aims to enhance habitat and biodiversity, engage communities, and improve the appearance of 8 urban parks within some of BCP Council’s most densely populated and disadvantaged wards. 

The work at Kinson Recreation ground was supported by local volunteers and residents who got involved in the practical work and are now helping to look after the green space. 

Other parks involved in this nature recovery initiative include:
  • Branksome Recreation Ground
  • Haskell’s Recreation Ground
  • Jumpers Common
  • Kinson Manor Playing Fields
  • Muscliff Park
  • Pelhams Park
  • Slade’s Farm
Kinson recreation ground
Photo credit: BCP Council

Potential activities

See what activities people can carry out to help achieve this priority. You can view them all, or just look at the one most relevant to you. These activities are a guide and are not exhaustive, as there are many small activities involved in habitat management and restoring ecosystems.

The activities and Dorset’s nature recovery maps provide a starting point, but additional land management and ecological advice will often be needed to support activities on individual sites. 

Explore by sector

Select the sector you're interested in to see the relevant activities for this priority.
 

Explore all potential activities

Listed here are all the potential activities for this priority:
  • use wildlife-friendly gardening practices in homes, businesses, community growing projects, churchyards and similar spaces
  • adapt mowing and maintenance regimes in green spaces such as parks, sports fields, and grounds of hospitals, schools or businesses. Create wild patches and meadows, and areas for insects to overwinter
  • create sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) features in towns and villages, such as rain gardens, swales, street trees and ponds to slow water and provide wetland or boggy habitat
  • increase other kinds of urban greening such as living walls and green roofs, on both existing and new buildings, or other infrastructure such as bus shelters
  • create more nature-rich spaces in nurseries, schools, colleges and universities. For example, gardens or allotments for students to grow plants and food, and wildflower strips around sports fields
  • create more nature-rich spaces on golf courses, or consider changing land-use where these facilities are underused or provided for people to enjoy elsewhere
  • Sustainably manage existing trees in towns and villages, replacing these where they are removed or lost due to age or disease
  • increase tree canopy cover by establishing and maintaining more trees in gardens, parks, and along streets, focusing on areas that have the lowest tree equity scores. For Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, follow the guiding principles outlined in BCP Urban Forest Strategy
  • in new developments, keep as many existing trees on site as possible and if trees are lost, carry out new tree planting, with numbers greater than those removed. Favour local and native species, or new species that provide a similar ecological function if more resilient or suited to the urban environment
  • maintain and establish new fruit trees and orchards within public spaces. And establish related community groups and ways for people to use the fruit and care for the trees
  • continue and grow the number of community farms, allotments and other growing projects using nature-friendly practices such as no chemicals and rainwater harvesting
  • create dead wood habitats such as standing dead wood, log piles and dead hedges to provide homes for wildlife, using locally sourced material
  • explore the suitability of newer methods of creating woodland. For example, the Miyawaki method involves planting a large number of seedlings at once, to replicate natural regeneration as the fastest growing saplings will thin out the rest
  • increase the use of hedges, rather than just fences and walls, around homes, gardens, and public open spaces
  • continue and expand Dorset’s successful ‘cut and collect’ approach to road verge management, to restore and maintain wildflower-rich habitat
  • manage verges, hedgerows and trees alongside road and rail infrastructure to create wildlife corridors and consider installing green crossings to reduce habitat fragmentation
  • manage verges alongside National Trails and Public Rights of Way to act as species- rich corridors, helping wildlife connect and allowing people to travel along and enjoy access to nature. This may involve a mix of grassland, hedgerows and trees
  • explore opportunities to convert underused streets or neglected areas into small ‘pocket parks’
  • use permeable materials if creating hard surfaces in urban areas, such as driveways, to direct rainwater into soakaways that flow back down into the ground instead of the wastewater system and therefore reduce flood risk. Limit use of sealed surfaces like concrete and artificial grass that water runs over quickly, flowing into drains and the wastewater system
  • use water butts to catch rainwater and use this to water plants during drier months. This water is good for the garden as it’s rich in nutrients and helps conserve drinking water
  • increase natural darkness by using timers and movement sensors on household and street lighting, to reduce light pollution that disturbs the natural rhythms of wildlife, for example, bats, birds, insects. Choose lights that are not too bright and warmer shades, then position the lights as low as possible and pointing downwards rather than into the sky. Also draw curtains or blinds after dark once the lights are on, if possible use thick or blackout lined curtains
  • make nature recovery a key consideration in development, following policy and guidance on biodiversity net gain, green infrastructure, urban greening, sustainable drainage systems (SuDs), sustainable/active travel, landscape character, suitable alternative natural greenspace (SANGs), and habitat restoration on minerals and waste sites
  • include species enhancements in the design of new buildings and developments. For example, bird and bat boxes/bricks, bee bricks, hedgehog highways. And add these to existing buildings and gardens too
  • consider and mitigate impacts on bats and birds before starting any renovation or repair works on buildings or structures, so that species can continue using the site once the works are complete
  • support initiatives for communities to take care of nature spaces near to homes and community buildings
  • protect or create patches of bare rock habitat amongst other habitat in urban spaces because these support wildlife such as invertebrates, lichens and mosses. For example, leaving bare rock exposed in cuttings, natural stone buildings or keeping a rock face in quarry restoration
  • protect and enhance green corridors that connect up nature areas to help wildlife travel through towns, and often provide trails for people to travel along too