Members of Beeston Wildlife Group (BWG) celebrated their success last week with the completion of the Attenborough Nature Centre Garden transformation, after over 6 months of hard work. The group worked with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust’s Southern Reserve Manager, Chris Kennedy, to transform the space into a haven for wildlife.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWT), has been supporting local groups in working towards a wilder Nottinghamshire for 60 years. BWG, a group of local enthusiasts, formed in 1996, with the aim of engaging others with wildlife by providing access to various nature walks and talks.

Made possible thanks to generous donations, the group took on the garden project in Autumn of 2022, and immediately got to work drawing up plans to transform the space. Through the seasons, they have worked on it rain, shine, or snow!

The transformed space boasts a newly dug pond with a dipping platform, already bringing smooth newts and many common blue damselflies to the area. The group also planted a wildflower meadow, which is currently a stunning sea of ox-eye daisies, yellow rattle and ragged robin - attracting a whole host of insects and pollinators. For children, there is a mud kitchen, pebble labyrinth and willow tunnel to explore. A brand-new fence has also been built along the edges of the water.

Nigel Slater, Vice Chairman and one of the longest standing group members stated: ‘The space is achieving what we had hoped, the wildlife is coming in and every day we are counting new species that are appearing. We are looking forward to working closely with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust on more projects in the future.’

The small private recognition event saw BWG and NWT staff come together to enjoy the garden, including NWT Chief Executive Paul Wilkinson. It began with a ribbon cutting by BWG Chairman Andrew Lee, whilst BWG's Adrian Biddulph proudly unveiled the weathervane on the roof of the new structure, which adds a sheltered seating area for the public to enjoy – whether that’s enjoying the view or a bite to eat outside. Two new wheelchair friendly picnic benches have also been installed.

Andrew Lee stated ‘The Beeston Wildlife Group has been very pleased to work with NWT on this project and it's been a real team effort with contributions from many people. We hope we have transformed the wildlife garden into a space where visitors enjoy spending time. If they learn about wildlife or take away ideas about how they can improve their homes for the benefit of wildlife, then that's great.’

The garden includes insect hotels, log piles and nest boxes, which have been utilised by four blue tit families this season. The popular sand martin hide is also situated at the bottom of the garden, which at this time of year is buzzing with activity. BWG are excited to maintain the garden with an ongoing planting programme to attract wildlife and will be adding informative signs as to why these plants are valuable.

The inspiration behind the space is to show people what can be done with a relatively small area to make room for nature – and encourage people to adopt similar techniques in their own outdoor spaces. There are signs throughout the garden, describing each area and why it is beneficial to wildlife. The group hopes that this will inspire the public to go home and take action for nature on their doorstep.  

Paul Wilkinson, Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust said, ‘This garden will hopefully provide lots of people with the inspiration to take action for nature in their own lives - at home, at work, at school - and that this will help create more spaces for wildlife to thrive.’

We will be celebrating the opening of the new space with the public on August 13th 2023, as part of our Wonderful Wetlands event.