Page 48 - ALG Issue 4 2024

SOUTHERN
TOP OF
THE PLOTS
In keeping with the theme for this year’s National Allotments Week, celebrating biodiversity on UK allotments,Weymouth Town Council and plotholders have been praised for their efforts in making their allotment sites wildlife havens.
The ‘Wildlife Friendly Space’ scheme run by DorsetWildlifeTrust and supported and endorsed by the Town Council, sets out
a number of criteria for the management and use of ‘your space’ from a few pots
on a balcony to a larger wild space like an allotment site.
The allotment sites that scooped awards include Westham Crossroads, Quibo Lane, Parsons Close, Southdown Farm, and Goldcroft.The council is looking to extend the scheme to its other allotment sites in Weymouth.
The council was able to demonstrate that its plotholders were meeting many of the criteria from recycling and rainwater harvesting to planting different plants with their crops to encourage pollinators. In managing the sites, the council have left fringes to grow and lightly managed the native hedging boundaries to encourage different wildlife.
Much of this recognition is down to individual allotment holders whose efforts have made these awards possible.Their work has shown how good they are in recycling, harvesting rainwater in different ways, composting and in the use of mulching.
Across the allotment sites in the town, there is a variety of wildlife that have taken up residence, from badgers and foxes to slow worms and different bird species. Beekeeping on an allotment site is also permitted and a couple of plots have been put over to bee hives. Another site has a dedicated communal wildlife area and pond that is maintained by those on the site.
There is still some work to do but this recognition from DorsetWildlifeTrust will be the incentive for more plotholders to think about the subject and encourage even more wildlife into these amazing places.
Cllr Matt Bell, Chair of Weymouth
Town Council’s Environment and Services Committee, said:“A big thank you to our plotholders for their efforts in making our allotment sites more wildlife-friendly, and to Dorset Wildlife Trust for recognising the fantastic work that has gone in to creating these rich habitats that will attract vital pollinators such as butterflies and bees.
It’s very apt that this has been announced during National Allotments Week. Well done to all.”
The ‘Wildlife Friendly Space’ scheme is open to anyone, whether you have an allotment plot or any size garden.
48 | Issue 4 2024 | Allotment and Leisure Gardener
“In managing the sites, the council have left fringes to grow and lightly managed the native hedging boundaries to encourage different wildlife”
For more information, visit https:// www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/ wildlife-friendly-garden