Preserve gardens

As a gardener I have viewed the recent series of programmes on the important role of gardens in saving our urban wildlife now and in the future with a mixture of concern and anger.

I have, like many others, made a serious effort to create the ­correct conditions for wildlife in our garden by providing nest boxes, flowers, berry-bearing trees and a wild area but ­obviously I need to do more.

The people who should be contacted are those, in my ­opinion, who have or are converting their gardens into deserts with hard standing in the form of gravel, brick paving slabs or even tarmac, with next to no greenery for wildlife.

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Many of these people have had to do this primarily to ­provide off-street parking, thus removing vehicles from our congested streets at the cost to wildlife.

Local authorities should play their part in this by requiring such developments to have to first be approved by them with the requirement for at least 25 per cent to be in the form of grass, trees, borders, shrubs or pots.

It is said that many people today do not have the time in their busy lives for gardening, so a maintenance-free garden ­appears to be the answer. But such people could still benefit from the recreational aspects of looking out into a garden of bloom or even a short time spent weeding or grass cutting.

Robert Wilson

Falkirk