Wetland / Woodland and scrub / Grassland / Private project
Project details
Wildacres is a small Fenland apiary producing honey, handmade beeswax candles and natural hive products, set within a landscape that is being steadily restored for wildlife. The site was formerly a plant nursery and had largely been laid to lawn, with ornamental borders and a large fishpond. Since taking it on, we have planted around 800 native trees and hedge plants, creating new woodland, orchard, hedgerows and a growing wildlife corridor. Roe and muntjac deer, foxes, otters, hedgehogs and badgers are already using the site. The former ornamental pond is being transformed into a wildlife pond and now supports dragonflies, damselflies, frogs, toads and newts, as well as visiting mallard, moorhens, kingfishers, herons and even the occasional Canada goose. We have also recently discovered water voles in the surrounding area and hope that, in time, they may find their way to the pond. Across the apiary field we are encouraging native wildflowers and follow a strict no-herbicide policy. Swift and bat boxes and bee hotels have been installed, and we are gradually managing areas of willow that had come to dominate parts of the site. There is still more to do, including removing some of the bulrushes and remodelling part of the pond bank, but the transformation from a disused nursery into a much richer habitat is already well underway.
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