Middlesex Street Estate Community Garden - For the Birds
The Pitch
Problem statement
Native bird populations are in massive decline. In the late 1990's, London’s Common Sparrow numbers dropped 70% in just 5 years. Black Redstarts, Bats, Swifts, Peregrine Falcons and wild bees are also listed in the City of London’s Biodiversity Action Plan as species whose local populations are now at great risk. These drops affect wider biodiversity, even in developed areas like the City of London. All these species need spaces with habitat and food, away from busy roads and pests, to survive. The City of London and the surrounding boroughs have limited spaces like these, making our large, rooftop garden a prime location to help protect and restore bird life in the Square Mile
Solution
We have devised three events to launch our 2023 gardening season, beginning early Spring. These events will address the issues above, while providing a fun day out for families and attracting volunteers to our community garden space. Funding will be used to promote these free, child-friendly events to the local community and to fund materials and supplies. The three events will cover the following areas: Food - planting berry bushes, fruit trees, and shrubs to provide forage and cover for birds and insects Home - building and painting bird boxes and bug hotels Live - making a bird bath and bird feeders, and beginning Spring planting.
Why are we best placed to deliver?
Benk & Bo has run the Estate’s Garden Club with Aldgate BID’s support since March 2022. We already have in place a Climate Resiliency project to transform the space into a community-run permaculture food forest, with the goal of creating a space rich in biodiversity, community engagement, and opportunities to learn and grow as a neighbourhood. We are working to offer this community space to the local area as widely as possible, to share in the multitude of social, health, and financial benefits community growing can offer. These events will help attract a wider audience to our project, while also attracting a wider audience of birds, bugs, and bees to our green, city oasis.