Urban offcuts

By Pete Crawford

Head of People and Wildlife

Each Christmas we have a wreath on the door, but the tradition is to make it myself. Round here, holly goes everywhere as an understorey plant, so I started with that, plus a few strands of variegated ivy from the village hall. A couple of ornamental crab apples, yielded some colourful fruit. Earlier in the year I had cut a piece of hop vine from our garden fence and let it dry.

A little bit of work at the kitchen table and although I doubt that I’ll get a call from Kirsty Allsop in the shops, a wreath like this might set you back £20.

I don’t do this to save money, but to be outside in nature in the shortest days of the year. I only able to do my festive foraging because of the existence of the open spaces around the 1970s housing estate where I live. The stream at the edge of the estate is fringed by long-ago coppiced hazel, a few large alder and oaks. This means we see nuthatches and greater spotted woodpeckers, as well as blue and great tits at our bird feeders.

This sliver of natural habitat is important for wildlife and is bolstered by the surrounding municipal planting and playing fields. Whilst these spaces are not rich in rare species and may never be graced by the presence of a natural history film crew, they are important to support the everyday biodiversity that surrounds us and enriches our lives all year round.