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Wildlife-friendly green spaces in Bredfield
Bredfield’s green spaces
We are privileged to have a large and wonderful green space in our village – Bredfield Jubilee Meadow and Orchard. Over 100 species of flora have been recorded in the meadow, and this brings with it an abundance of butterflies, bees, beetles and other invertebrates. However, wildlife-friendly green spaces can be much smaller, or be a small part of a larger open area.
In Bredfield, St Andrew’s church ground, the village green and other smaller green spaces will provide spaces for wildlife-friendly margins. The church ground contains a number of bat boxes and we have planted a wildflower patch there.
Hedgerows, trees and set-aside
Hedgerows are a wonderful dense habitat for birds and other wildlife. As a recent hedgerow survey revealed, there is a healthy amount of hedgerows in and around Bredfield. We must not lose them. There are lots of trees around the village, but no large woodlands fall within the parish boundary. Byng Brook runs through Bredfield. Though we may not usually think of the brook as a green space, it does have potential as a good linear habitat for wildlife.
Bredfield is surrounded by arable fields, but some sections and margins – especially those in ‘difficult to plough’ locations – have been left, perhaps temporarily, as ‘set-aside’ or a ‘greening’ area. These areas hold plants and insects that attract Field Voles, Field Mice and Shrews which in turn attract Kestrels and Barn Owls.
Wildlife and green spaces
Part of our purpose is to help make green spaces within the village as wildlife-friendly as possible. A small area of wildflowers (such as that planted in the church ground), might seem to be just a token, but it won’t seem insignificant to a bee or butterfly making its way around!
If, as is likely, you see a Kestrel or Barn Owl around Bredfield, remember that it is only there because the right habitat has been left at the margins, between the houses and the arable fields.
“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.”
Henry David Thoreau