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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Good things we are doing for the Bees and Environment

46 replies

nickthefox · 11/06/2022 08:07

I get so upset and so worried about the state of the world and sometimes I'd like to hear the good things people do.
Just on another thread where people were saying they are fighting for the Bees and other wildlife by rewinding their gardens.

What else have you all done this year to try to combat Climate change?

OP posts:
Henerlo · 11/06/2022 10:58

I've got quite a lot of flowers that encourage pollinators - lavender, buddelia and a decent mix of wildflowers. I don't feed birds because I don't want them to get too comfortable where there are a lot of (neighbours') cats and it can encourage vermin plus birds are more than able to feed themselves. I do cut the grass because that's got nothing much to do with pollinators and it's a problem in lots of ways when it gets long and seedy. I pick up litter quite regularly round and about so the foxes go elsewhere to scavenge and don't go for the hedgehogs that neighbours have seen about the place.

Imsittinginthekitchensink · 11/06/2022 11:02

My garden feels like minibeast central this year. I don't encourage birds due to my cats, but have a preference for lots of flowers in the garden, so have busy borders at the mo.

sleepymum50 · 11/06/2022 11:14

I compost everything. I haven’t used pesticides or slug pellets for years and years. I have extended no mow May into no mow June. I have loads of weeds in my lawn. Where I can I leave big “weeds” alone (ground elder/thistles). I have bramble in all my hedges. I have a log pile and patch of nettles. I don’t cut back in autumn.

I’m learning to love slugs, snails, greenfly and pigeons. I have a deer that regularly comes into my garden and is eating all my flowers - not loving that. I put water out for the birds and hedgehogs. I had a wasps nest outside my bedroom window, learned to live with them and they caused no trouble

I live rurally but only use my car every 10 days or so. I try to live by the saying:
use it up/wear it out/make do/do without and Great Acts are made of Small Deeds by Lao Tzu.

yes, and I did buy some clothes in Asda last week, so I’m not always practising what I’m preaching.

liliainterfrutices · 11/06/2022 11:17

Took Eurostar rather than flying. Will try to do that more.
plant lots of lavender.
I do plant trees to try to offset climate change

liliainterfrutices · 11/06/2022 11:18

Am also trying to buy secondhand off ebay rather than new clothes on high street.

Siameasy · 11/06/2022 11:20

I have loads of wild flowers in my garden and I don’t use any pesticides etc

I did no mow may and still haven’t mown.

When we moved in we planted several trees (new development) and the reward is that the birds love hanging out

We took up the brickwork at the front and made a garden there too with lots of wild flowers.

ilovemyelectriccar · 11/06/2022 11:22

No mow May, solar panels, storage battery so can store solar power for use during the evening/night, as much as possible bought from "no waste" shop - we take our own containers, use local butchers which sell high welfare locally raised meat, electric car, milk delivered by local dairy (not a chain), started visible mending when jumpers go into holes, heating much of the house with air to air air conditioning unit (heat pump powered by solar power), holidaying in UK so not flying.

ilovemyelectriccar · 11/06/2022 11:23

Oh, and avoiding produce flown into UK on principle!

TheDuchessOfMN · 11/06/2022 11:36

I try not to judge what other people do, but I make an exception for my neighbour who sprayed their entire perimeter of their garden and all along the outside with weed killer. Aside from what it does to bees & wildlife, it looks horrid… it just looks burnt.
Such an appalling and ignorant thing to do. I’m not in the UK so don’t know if it’s banned there.

I left the buttercups pretty much take over this year, the bees love them.
I’ve also left some nettles for the butterflies. I have hebes and a buddleia, and last year I counted something like 20 butterflies at one time.

We don’t use sprays, slug pellets etc. We have a birdbath (blackbirds love it) and they take care of the snail population for us

Rodneytrotterslovechild · 11/06/2022 11:55

We bought some wildflower seeds but haven’t got round to planting them as work took over-it’s our project for next year
(pissed off with myself for not managing better this year)
we’ve planted two trees in our garden-front and back
a few roses in both gardens and other bits and bobs in tubs
we have a bird table and are looking into a bird bath
no room for a pond unfortunately
we do the whole ‘buy from charity shops-donate back’
We did no mow may
we bought some bulbs from b&q but no sign yet

ofwarren · 11/06/2022 12:06

We are a no car family. Last year we put in 2 wildflower patches which have flowered this year and are bigger than our actual lawn. We started composting all our vegetable waste last year and our gardening group has just managed to get hold of a massive area to create a community garden for everyone to enjoy growing and eating fruit and vegetables.

Nitgel · 11/06/2022 12:35

bellac11 · 11/06/2022 10:14

Its not giving you awful hay fever at all.

You might have awful hay fever but its nothing to do with whether your neighbour cuts their grass or not

Well as the grass is about 2 foot high I thought this was a reasonable assumption, plus tv reports grass pollen high.

becausetrampslikeus · 11/06/2022 12:50

We have wild flowers cropping up in our borders , we planted 2 small fruit trees, allotment , just walked to town to do the weekly shop , didn't replace the tumble drier

Husband isn't noticing any worse than usual hay fever symptoms, and he's happy to prioritise wildlife over his runny nose - one we need, the other can be managed

Valeriekat · 11/06/2022 18:54

bellac11 · 11/06/2022 10:14

Its not giving you awful hay fever at all.

You might have awful hay fever but its nothing to do with whether your neighbour cuts their grass or not

How can you possibly know?
Grass produces a lot of pollen and I for one am very allergic to it.

nickthefox · 11/06/2022 21:57

that's absolutely horrible about the bird feeders and bird flu
it seems its always about. poor things.
we saw 5 little birds, babies with hardly any feathers yet all dead in a circle about a meter or 2. I wonder what could have done it?

I also saw another baby bird dead but it was yellow and another all within 2 days. couldn't believe the five together though

OP posts:
bellac11 · 12/06/2022 09:43

Valeriekat · 11/06/2022 18:54

How can you possibly know?
Grass produces a lot of pollen and I for one am very allergic to it.

Because the pollen is there whether you cut it or not. There is no evidence to say that long grass is more of a pollen contributor than anything else but there is evidence about the effect of being around grass that is being mowed, or just been mowed as the pollen is all up in the air at that time having been unsettled and blowing around by the mower.

Lottsbiffandsmudge · 12/06/2022 09:56

I have grown perennials from seed this year. I always end up with too many! So I have been giving plants away free in my village along with excess strawberry plant runners I dug up early spring and potted on.
I have no tumble dryer.
We have an electric car
We are having our house externally insulated (it's single skin 1930s so freezing in winter) and I won't have the heating above 19 degrees (family wear actual clothes!).
My front garden has been designed to attract pollinators and I am gradually increasing my stock of plants with those seeds I mentioned! I reuse pots. We also planted 4 trees which was an expense
Looking into solar panels and a battery but lead times are v long.
My main issue is plastic and trying to reduce it.

Gliblet · 12/06/2022 10:09

We dug a pond in August 2020 with a small rockery and logpile with lots of hide holes and it had its first frog sitting in it within 12 hours, nearly two years on it honestly looks like it's been there for ages. At the moment there are damselflies, hoverflies (including the little hummingbird ones), bees, pondskaters, a variety of fly species and the odd wasp flitting around the surface. We've had dragonflies, stoneflies and mayflies out there too. Also water spiders, jumping spiders, tadpoles, isopods, two species of pondsnail (one bought on purpose, one presumably came in on plants), and water beetles.

We don't mow the front garden more than three times a year, I plant things that will keep a long flowering period so that early and late pollinators have food available (lots of cyclamen, daffodils, knapweed, elder, wild and cultivated geraniums, buddleia, mock orange, honeysuckle, abelia, lavender, early and late roses, cat mint, lemon balm, pinks, verbena bonariensis, valerian, late flowering fuchsias, and we don't remove dandelions or mow the back garden early in the year). We don't use pesticides, tolerate a few weeds (bramble on one fence and jack-in-the-hedge in bits of the back garden), have a hedge instead of a wall or fence at the front, and i don't prune plants as soon as they go over - we have long-tailed tits, goldfinches, dunnock, blackbirds and greenfinch in the garden in the winter looking for seeds and berries among all the dead flower heads on things like the knapweed and lemon balm.

disappointed101 · 12/06/2022 10:18

Turned vegan, gave up my car, turned to reusable sanpro, wild garden area in my garden, food for birds, expanding veg patch. Trying hard not to buy new things.
OP I am the same so I look at positive news and good news network to balance out some of the bad news. We can all make a difference.

squashyhat · 12/06/2022 10:23

I've carried on doing all the things I have been doing for years without feeling the need to tell everyone.

shreddednips · 12/06/2022 11:06

I've stopped buying new clothes, as have the rest of my household. Everything that can possibly be bought second-hand is, it's been a good thing all round really because we can afford better quality and have more money left over.

I also got this excellent contraption for my birthday called a 'wonder bag' that works like an energy-free slow cooker. You get the pan hot on the hob, wrap it in the wonder bag (it's like a duvet) and it traps the heat in and does the rest of the cooking without using any fuel. May sound extreme but we're really struggling with the rising energy costs and they really are clever!

Other that, I'm trying to grow as many plants as possible in my garden. I'm a total amateur and we've had some disasters but I have managed to grow pak Choi, strawberries and courgettes without killing them 😁

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