The Powys Nature Partnership is collaborating on nature recovery in Powys. 1MetreMatters is a great initiative to support wildlife in a small area, which will increase biodiversity in our landscape. By taking part, you will be contributing to the delivery of the Powys Nature Recovery Action.

Edition 1  2023

A Big HELLO to You!

A welcome from On The Verge Chair – Martin Draper.


If you are new to the world of wildlife habitats and environmental issues, or if you are an experienced conservationist, your presence on this initiative will, I promise you, make a difference.


There can be no doubting the present peril in which our insects find themselves. For too long we human beings have contributed to their demise, if not with intent, then with a mistaken belief that they matter little to our day-to-day existence.


Of course, the opposite is true.


Without their valuable involvement to the pollination process our choice of food would be severely limited; notwithstanding their impact on all living creatures.


In our 1MetreMatters initiative we will attempt to personalise insects in their own right – by showing them as individuals, each with their own personalities and peculiarities; just like human beings!


Our hope is that, as a result of taking part in this scheme, YOU will be responsible for the upturn in the insects lives and the proliferation of our natural world.


We will be with you every step of the way...

Why does your

one metre matter?


At On The Verge our major focus is to create wildlife habitats, in all sorts of places, specifically to increase the number and range of pollinators, of all shapes and sizes.


As Dave Goulding states, in his book, Silent Earth – Averting the insect apocalypse:


“If wildflowers decline further because of inadequate pollination, then this means even less food for the remaining pollinators. Some scientists have speculated that this could spark an ‘extinction vortex’ in which numbers of flowers and pollinators spiral down to mutual extinction”.


The whole subject matter of insects, pollination and the importance to human food stocks is, sometimes, just too much of a massive subject to comprehend, let alone being able, or motivated enough, to make a difference in our everyday lives.

 

This is why

On The Verge

have introduced 1MetreMatters


The overriding emphasis of 1MetreMatters is for people to not be overwhelmed by the whole environment issue and to concentrate their minds on choosing 1 metre of their space – indoor / patio / garden / nearby verges etc.


  • Every step will be guided by regular content on our website with a Q & A facility.
  • There will be an opportunity to submit pictures and interact with other online contributors with
    links available for useful suppliers/information/collaborations/book recommendation etc.
  • Regular articles from experts in their field will point us in the right direction – enabling everyone to feel that a small action is making a difference; helping to ensure a brighter future for our fellow humans and the flora and fauna of our planet.


Insects and their

useful roles for the Environment


Phil (The Bug Man) Ward

is a professional invertebrate ecologist, former invertebrate tutor with Aberystwyth University, the County Invertebrate Recorder for Radnorshire, and secretary of the Radnorshire Invertebrate Group.


Worldwide, 85% of all animals are arthropods (commonly called ‘bugs’), animals with several pairs of legs and segmented bodies. Over 80% of arthropods are Insects. In the UK we have 24,000 species of insect, of which 1500 species are recognised pollinators which include bees, wasps, hoverflies, butterflies, moths and some beetles and flies. A partnership exists between insects who need flowers for food, and flowers which need pollination.


Why are

pollinators important?


The value of pollinators to UK agricultural crops are worth £690 million a year.


In the UK, 97% of meadows present in the 1940’s have disappeared. Bees have declined more than any other group of wildlife, and of the 260 species of British bees, nearly half are rare or scarce. Recent European studies of insects have found serious declines. These declines have been well documented within the press and various journals.


Without their valuable involvement to the pollination process our choice of food would be severely limited; notwithstanding their impact on all living creatures.


In our 1MetreMatters initiative we will attempt to personalise insects in their own right – by showing them as individuals, each with their own personalities and peculiarities; just like human beings!


Our hope is that, as a result of taking part in this scheme, YOU will be responsible for the upturn in the insects lives and the proliferation of our natural world.


We will be with you every step of the way...

1 MetreMatters

Get to know

The Dung Beetle

Why write an article about dung beetles? Well, recently there is a new organisation called Dung Beetles for Farmers www.dungbeetlesforfarmers.co.uk, a group of professional enthusiasts which are raising awareness by providing course days and talks, of how important dung beetles are, as they play a major role in improving soil structure and health, as well as reducing potential livestock parasites and water contamination issues from dung.


Dung beetles provide a rapid break down of deposited dung into soil humus in a matter of days. They lay eggs within dung and their larvae emerge to consume the dung. Some dung beetles live on the ground surface and lay eggs directly underneath or on fresh dung. Other species dig deep burrows within the soil under the dung and take the dung down into these chambers, so by transferring vital nutrients from the surface back into the lower soil where it is most useful for plant roots, these burrows also providing a valuable soil aeration system.


There are about 60 kinds of dung beetles in the UK. Most dung beetles belong to a larger beetle super-family called Scarabaeidae, or Scarabs for short, which includes all our chafer beetles such as Cockchafer (which aren’t dung beetles, they mostly feed on grass roots) as well as true dung beetles.


They are also many other beetles which you may find as casual visitors on dung, which are not that specialist and will also feed on various other decomposing material.


An adult dung beetles’ legs are adapted for digging, many having flattened legs with sharp thorn-like structures just like a mole’s feet, perfect for moving soil.


So, next time you come across a dung beetle, appreciate the amazing and essential task they contribute to our soil. And they are quite cute really, in their own way!


Now, following on from Phil the Bugman - let’s see how we can make a difference to the pollinator numbers in a small space...

1 MetreMatters

Practical advice and examples of how to utilise your 1 Metre outdoor spaces

EXAMPLES OF HABITATS WITH NATURE IN MIND...


Karl Wills lives in Bannau Brycheiniog, has a garden that produces virtually all of the vegetables for the year (including preserving), plus providing lots of biodiversity areas, and a trustee of Black Mountains College.


If you don’t know what to plant or aren’t sure what to do then just leave a small space – maybe in the corner of the garden or around the edges... and wait to see what emerges.


To help the pollinators it is good to accept an untidy garden, or, at least, parts of the garden being untidy. This can often result in a beautiful array of flowers and insects that you wouldn’t expect.

It is amazing what nature will do to colonise spaces. 


For instance, Mexican Daises, also known as Mexican Fleabane (Erigeron Karvinskianus); The photo shows how they have self-seeded along the edge of a path. These plants like sunny or shady areas and can flower from May to October.


Nasturtiums are also excellent in crevices and on the edge of planting – just leave them to self-seed.
Californian poppies (Eschscholzia) are also really good at inhabiting cracks in paving and small crevices, look beautiful and flower for a few months.


For the vegetable grower, nasturtiums are great for attracting white cabbage butterflies to lay their eggs there instead of on the brassicas.



The most important thing is to let all wild flowers go to seed and then nature will do its thing and they should grow again the following year.

Another good thing to do in a 1 Metre space is to sink a barrel or tub into the ground and make a small pond. 


There are lots of online articles, one of the best is a video from WWT “How to create a barrel pond for wildlife”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxsnX9Nd7CQ


one thing to ensure, in case the water level goes down, (especially if it doesn’t have a constant feed) is to install a ramp, e.g. a piece of wood for any small creatures to escape and not drown.

Even if there isn’t a spare metre-squared of space in the garden, there are others things that can still be done. To get more pollinators, there needs to be food, via plants, and habitat.


So, if you can’t plant specifically there are two things that can be done:


Firstly, in your 1 metre area don’t clear away plants.


Leaving plants over the winter can provide seeds and some nutrients, but they also provide habitat.

 
Log, branch/twig piles can make good homes, as does piles of dead leaves (which are particularly good for moth larvae).


Secondly, “artificial” habitats can be created.


The photo shows how these can be made simply and cheaply at home. But broken pots, straw in a box, and other such things all help.


https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/nature-on-your-doorstep/garden-activities/build-a-bug-hotel

Insects and their useful roles for the Environment


Phil (The Bug Man) Ward is a professional invertebrate ecologist, former invertebrate tutor with Aberystwyth University, the County Invertebrate Recorder for Radnorshire, and secretary of the Radnorshire Invertebrate Group.


Worldwide, 85% of all animals are arthropods (commonly called ‘bugs’), animals with several pairs of legs and segmented bodies. Over 80% of arthropods are insects. In the UK we have 24,000 species of insect, of which 1500 species are recognised pollinators which include bees, wasps, hoverflies, butterflies, moths and some beetles and flies. A partnership exists between insects who need flowers for food, and flowers which need pollination.


Why are pollinators important?

The value of pollinators to UK agricultural crops are worth £690 million a year.


In the UK, 97% of meadows present in the 1940’s have disappeared. Bees have declined more than any other group of wildlife, and of the 260 species of British bees, nearly half are rare or scarce. Recent European studies of insects have found serious declines. These declines have been well documented within the press and various journals.


Without their valuable involvement to the pollination process our choice of food would be severely limited; notwithstanding their impact on all living creatures.

1 MetreMatters

Get to know The Dung Beetle

Why write an article about dung beetles? Well, recently there is a new organisation called Dung Beetles for Farmers www.dungbeetlesforfarmers.co.uk, a group of professional enthusiasts. They are raising awareness by providing course days and talks on how important dung beetles are, as they play a major role in improving soil structure and health, as well as reducing potential livestock parasites and water contamination issues from dung.


Dung beetles provide a rapid break down of deposited dung into soil humus in a matter of days. They lay eggs within dung and their larvae emerge to consume the dung. Some dung beetles live on the ground surface and lay eggs directly underneath or on fresh dung. Other species dig deep burrows within the soil under the dung and take the dung down into these chambers, transferring vital nutrients from the surface back into the lower soil where it is most useful for plant roots. These burrows also providing a valuable soil aeration system.


There are about 60 kinds of dung beetles in the UK. Most dung beetles belong to a larger beetle super-family called Scarabaeidae, or Scarabs for short, which includes all our chafer beetles such as Cockchafer (which aren’t dung beetles -they mostly feed on grass roots) as well as true dung beetles.


They are also many other beetles which you may find as casual visitors on dung, which are not that specialist and will also feed on various other decomposing material.


An adult dung beetle's legs are adapted for digging, many having flattened legs with sharp thorn-like structures just like a mole’s feet, perfect for moving soil.


So, next time you come across a dung beetle, appreciate the amazing and essential task they contribute to our soil. And they are quite cute really, in their own way!


Now, following on from Phil the Bugman - let’s see how we can make a difference to the pollinator numbers in a small space...

1 MetreMatters

Practical advice and examples

of how to utilise your 1 Metre outdoor spaces

EXAMPLES OF HABITATS WITH NATURE IN MIND...


Karl Wills lives in Bannau Brycheiniog, has a garden that produces virtually all of the vegetables for the year (including preserving), plus providing lots of biodiversity areas, and is a trustee of Black Mountains College.


If you don’t know what to plant or aren’t sure what to do then just leave a small space – maybe in the corner of the garden or around the edges... and wait to see what emerges.


To help the pollinators it is good to accept an untidy garden, or, at least, parts of the garden being untidy. This can often result in a beautiful array of flowers and insects that you wouldn’t expect.

It is amazing what nature will do to colonise spaces. 


For instance, you can see in this photo that Mexican Daises, also known as Mexican Fleabane (Erigeron Karvinskianus) have self-seeded along the edge of a path. These plants like sunny or shady areas and can flower from May to October.


Nasturtiums are also excellent in crevices and on the edge of planting – just leave them to self-seed.
Californian poppies (Eschscholzia) are also really good at inhabiting cracks in paving and small crevices, look beautiful and flower for a few months.


For the vegetable grower, nasturtiums are great for attracting white cabbage butterflies to lay their eggs there instead of on the brassicas.



The most important thing is to let all wild flowers go to seed and then nature will do its thing and they should grow again the following year.

Another good thing to do in a 1 Metre space is to sink a barrel or tub into the ground and make a small pond. 


There are lots of online articles, one of the best is a video from WWT “How to create a barrel pond for wildlife”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxsnX9Nd7CQ


One thing to ensure, in case the water level goes down, (especially if it doesn’t have a constant feed) is to install a ramp, e.g. a piece of wood for any small creatures to escape and not drown.

Even if there isn’t a spare metre-square of space in the garden, there are others things that can still be done. To get more pollinators, there needs to be food via plants and habitat.


So, if you can’t plant specifically there are two things that can be done:


Firstly, in your 1 metre area don’t clear away plants.


Leaving plants over the winter can provide seeds and some nutrients, but they also provide habitat.

 
Log, branch/twig piles can make good homes, as do piles of dead leaves (which are particularly good for moth larvae).


Secondly, “artificial” habitats can be created.


The photo shows how these can be made simply and cheaply at home. But broken pots, straw in a box, and other such things all help.


https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/nature-on-your-doorstep/garden-activities/build-a-bug-hotel

Why does your one metre matter?


At On The Verge our major focus is to create wildlife habitats, in all sorts of places, specifically to increase the number and range of pollinators, of all shapes and sizes.


As Dave Goulson states, in his book Silent Earth – Averting the insect apocalypse:


“If wildflowers decline further because of inadequate pollination, then this means even less food for the remaining pollinators. Some scientists have speculated that this could spark an ‘extinction vortex’ in which numbers of flowers and pollinators spiral down to mutual extinction”.


The whole subject matter of insects, pollination and the importance to human food stocks is, sometimes, just too much of a massive subject to comprehend, let alone being able, or motivated enough, to make a difference in our everyday lives.

 

This is why On The Verge have introduced 1MetreMatters


The overriding emphasis of 1MetreMatters is for people to not be overwhelmed by the whole environment issue and to concentrate their minds on choosing 1 metre of their space – indoor/patio/garden/nearby verges etc.


  • Every step will be guided by regular content on our website with a Q & A facility.
  • There will be an opportunity to submit pictures and interact with other online contributors with links available for useful suppliers/information/collaborations/book recommendation etc.
  • Regular articles from experts in their field will point us in the right direction – enabling everyone to feel that a small action is making a difference; helping to ensure a brighter future for our fellow humans and the flora and fauna of our planet.


1 MetreMatters

One woman and her garden journey...


Listen to Rebecca and her journey to a more sustainable garden


Rebecca Rea is an animal communicator, therapist for people and animals, teaches meditation and is a nature artist. Over the coming year she will be sharing some top tips from her experience of wilding through short video clips on this page.


You can contact Rebecca at www.theanimalhealer.life

1 MetreMatters

Season's Actions Autumn to Early Winter

EXAMPLES OF HABITATS WITH NATURE IN MIND...


Unfortunately, many gardeners still think of hack-it-all-down and rake-it-all-up gardening clean up as good gardening. We now understand how our gardens and outdoor spaces can become havens for creatures, large and small, depending on what we plant in them and how we tend to our cultivated spaces. Thanks to books like Doug Tallamy’s Bringing Nature Home, we now know how important native plants are for insects, birds, amphibians and even people. Our gardens play an important role in supporting wildlife and what we do in them every autumn can either enhance or inhibit that role.


Three things we can do in our Autumn gardens to help wildlife.


1. The Native Bees
Many species of native bees need a place to spend the winter that is protected from cold and predators. They may hunker down under a piece of peeling tree bark, or they may stay tucked away in the hollow stem of an ornamental grass. Some spend the winter as an egg or larvae in a burrow in the ground.


2. Ladybirds
Most of them enter the insect world’s version of hibernation soon after the temperatures drop and spend the colder months tucked under a pile of leaves, nestled at the base of a plant, or hidden under a rock. Most overwinter in groups of anywhere from a few individuals to thousands of adults. Leaving the garden intact for the winter means you’ll get a jump start on controlling pests in the spring. Skipping an Autumn gardening clean-up is one important way to help these beneficial insects.
And, of course, we won’t need neonicotinoid sprays to “control” sap sucking insects.


3. The People
If the previous two reasons aren’t enough to inspire you to hold off on cleaning up the garden, I’ll add one final reason to the list: You. There is so much beauty to be found in a winter garden. Snow resting on dried seed pods, berries clinging to bare branches, goldfinches flitting around spent sunflowers, frost kissing the autumn leaves collected at the base of a plant, and ice collected on blades of ornamental grasses. At first, you might not consider yourself to be one of the reasons not to clean up the garden, but winter is a lovely time out there, if you let it be so.


Delaying your garden’s clean up until the spring is a boon for all the creatures living there. Instead of heading out to the garden with a pair of pruning shears and a rake this Autumn, wait until the spring temperatures warm up for at least 7 consecutive days. By then, all the creatures living there will be emerging from their long winter nap. And even if they haven’t managed to get out of bed by the time you head out to the garden, most of them will still manage to find their way out of a loosely layered compost pile before it begins to decompose. Do Mother Nature a big favour and save your garden clean up until the spring.


Based around https://savvygardening.com

1 MetreMatters

Words to help you understand, start or sustain your environmentally focused journey...



The Biodiversity Gardener

by Paul Sterry

Published by Princeton University Press


“My biodiversity garden did not appear overnight. It is the culmination of a series of projects that complement one another and work with the surrounding environment; the result being ecological synergy. I would wager that there is more nature biodiversity, and far more abundance per square metre, in my half acre garden than on land nearby”.

A Sand County Almanac

by Aldo Leopold, 1949


“Even in Britain, which has less room for land luxuries than almost any other civilised country, there is a vigorous if belated movement for saving a few small spots of semi-wild land”.

1 MetreMatters

Book recommendations for information, education & pleasure

Second Nature

by Michael Pollan


“An important and profoundly original book... A well-developed philosophy of life and nature in a technological world”. Kirkus Reviews

The Golden Mole

by Katherine Rundell


“A rare and magical book. I didn’t want it to end”. Bill Bryson

Deep Country

by Neil Ansell


“Find your deepest, most comfortable armchair and get away from it all”. Countryfile

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