Practical Ideas for Communities

Communities, parish councils, and local groups have real power to make a difference for wildlife. The actions below require little specialist knowledge but can have a significant impact on local biodiversity. Public bodies also have a statutory duty to conserve and enhance biodiversity under the Environment Act 2021 – visit our biodiversity duty page for more information.

Practical ideas

• Form an active parish or community wildlife group to coordinate local conservation efforts and build community involvement.
• Survey, record, and monitor parish plants, birds, invertebrates, amphibians, and fungi – and submit your records to SBIS via our recording pages.
• Enhance habitats on parish-owned sites – plant up gaps in hedges, plant new hedgerows between isolated woodlands using native species, and encourage local landowners to do the same.
• Put up bird and bat boxes on suitable buildings and trees.
• Manage churchyards for people and wildlife – leave patches of uncut grass to provide a mosaic of habitats, reduce pesticide use to leave invertebrates as food for birds, and leave an uncut area of nettles (nettle patches support a vast number of invertebrate species).
• Manage ponds for biodiversity – remove silt, ensure shallow sloping edges, and remove overhanging vegetation where it is blocking light.
• Plant a traditional orchard using locally appropriate varieties – find out more on our traditional orchards page.
• Encourage allotment owners to provide space for nature, use peat-free compost, and manage pests using organic solutions.
• Encourage local schools to use allotments and churchyards as outdoor classrooms – surveying and recording wildlife links naturally to biology, mathematics, and geography.
• Consult specialists for advice and practical help – our Environmental Management links page lists useful organisations.

Case studies

Charsfield Recreation Ground – Wild Fun Area

The group’s aim is to provide a habitat where people of all ages and abilities and wildlife can thrive together. With the help of Suffolk Wildlife Trust, the group planted new hedging and native trees to form a small wood, laid down poor quality subsoil, and spread green hay to create a wildflower meadow. A two-metre undeveloped buffer around the wild fun area provides a wildlife corridor, and areas of the field are left unmanaged to benefit wildlife.

Orford and Gedgrave Quay Meadow

The group’s aims were to provide an area of managed countryside as a haven for wildlife and an amenity for people, and to improve the quality of rich grassland to enable wildflowers to flourish. Activities included planting and gapping up boundary hedges, planting appropriately sourced wildflower plugs and spring bulbs, and allowing hedges, bushes, and small trees to grow to encourage nesting birds. Deadwood has been left on site for insects, and when the meadow is cut the cuttings are removed to encourage plant diversity. Advice was sought from Suffolk Wildlife Trust and the British Trust for Ornithology. The meadow is used throughout the year as a safe and pleasant green space for local people and visitors to walk through, sit in, and play on.

Benhall and Sternfield Wadd County Wildlife Site

The group manages a grassland and wetland County Wildlife Site in a way that preserves and maximises biodiversity while allowing access for local people. Supported by Suffolk Wildlife Trust and the Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape, the group has established an annual hay-cutting regime and opened up the habitat by removing scrub willow, laurel, and poplar, and coppicing alder. Hedge planting has secured the boundary and provided additional habitat. Species surveys have been undertaken and a management plan produced. A boardwalk has improved access to part of the site, and habitat improvements have benefited rarer wetland species while the space continues to be well-used and enjoyed by the local community.