WILDLIFE will now feel just as at home as the human residents of an independent living scheme in Southam.
Coun Jennifer Fradgley, chair of Stratford District Council, joined volunteers from local housing provider Orbit,to plant trees, hedgerows and wildflowers at its Wattons Lodge Independent Living scheme.
Colleagues from the not-for-profit housing group volunteered to plant over 900 hedgerow whips, 900 flower bulbs, 600 metres squared of wildflower meadow, 200 metres squared of naturalised grassland and five fruit trees at the scheme for over 55s.
The planting initiative is part of Orbit’s commitment to ensure that 30 per cent of its outdoor spaces enable nature’s recovery by 2030.
Tree and hedge species planted included UK native species such as Cherry, Pear, Crab Apple, Beech, Rowan, Blackthorn, Hawthorn and Dog Rose, as well as flowers including English Bluebells, Winter Aconite and Daffodils and a wildflower mix containing 27 British native flowering species.
Coun Fradgley said: “I was delighted to learn more about how Orbit is working to create more biodiverse and high-quality outdoor spaces. Access to local nature has such a positive impact on wellbeing, so it was wonderful to spend time with residents at Wattons Lodge and support in creating such a biodiverse area.”
Joanna Crouch, environmental sustainability manager at Orbit, added: “We are passionate about creating more sustainable and biodiverse environments for our customers and projects like this help us provide better and more local access to nature for the people in our homes, which also improves wellbeing.
“With our colleagues and customers keen to learn about how we’re achieving our ambitions it has been great to involve them in our planting day at Wattons Lodge and we’re excited to see the area blossom in the future.”
