Our first Our Planet Our Future event of 2024 will be all about Building Greener Street Communities. It takes place on Tuesday 9th January at 7.30pm at the Plough and Harrow pub, 88 Southdown Road, Harpenden. The evening will feature speakers from local groups who are encouraging sustainability at street level in St Albans district including Wilderhood Watch. We caught up with Nadia Bishara, St Albans resident and founder of this wildlife-championing local community group.Â
What is Wilderhood Watch St Albans District?
Wilderhood Watch is a group of St Albans residents determined to help make our district more friendly for wildlife and people, one street at a time. We help and encourage residents of a street to create corridors for wildlife using their gardens and other small green spaces. We already have lots of streets in St Albans which have created Wilderhood Watches and now we’re growing in Harpenden too.
What do Wilderhood Watch streets do?
Changes for wildlife on a Wilderhood Watch streets are driven by the residents themselves.  They can choose from a wide selection of wildlife projects to get themselves started and we have lots of supportive information on our website. A good place to start is our Projects page.
For example, our Pollinator Highway project involves asking neighbours to grow pollinator-friendly plants in their gardens. The aim is to create a green corridor of food and habitat that can support insects such as bees, ensuring that they never go hungry no matter what the season. Swapping plants amongst yourselves is a fun way to get this project off the ground, and we have lots of resources to help you with this.
What other wildlife can residents focus on?
Our Butterfly Challenge encourages neighbours to plant specifically for a chosen set of 7 eye-catching butterflies, and then watch with amazement as they colonise your garden!
If you’ve spotted a hedgehog along your road, then you might like to become a Hedgehog Street. Swapping tips on making your gardens hedgehog friendly and encouraging people to create holes in their fences is a great way to launch this project.
We also have projects about toads, swifts, bats, trees and hedges. Or you can focus more broadly on sustainability with litter picking, recycling or sustainable eating.
Many Wilderhood Watch streets run a few projects with different neighbours championing different projects.
The Wilderhood Watch website is full of info. What other support do you offer?
We can support you with advice and leaflets, as well as a visit from a couple of our volunteer Wildlife Gardening Champions. They can give you great tips on how to make your garden super attractive for hedgehogs and other wildlife.
We also support our streets through communicating regularly via WhatsApp chats, so that people feel connected to the wider network. The streets very much support each other and discuss their local projects and wildlife issues in the area.  Joint events between streets such as stalls, pond walks, meadow walks and plant swaps mean there is always lots to get involved with.
How do I find out if my street is already a Wilderhood Watch street?
Visit our Wilderhood Watch Groups page to explore the streets in St Albans district already signed up to Wilderhood Watch and what they are up to.  If you do already live on a Wilderhood Watch street, please consider becoming involved. Adding your garden to your street’s growing wildlife corridor will make all the difference.Â
How do I start a Wilderhood Watch street from scratch?
If you think you would like to start a Wilderhood Watch project, firstly please read our website www.wilderhoodwatch.org. and then chat to your neighbours. Then just contact me through the website to become one of our groups. You can be a whole street or part of a street – our local nature will be grateful for any wildlife corridor you can create.
Why not come along to the Plough and Harrow pub on 9th January at 7.30 to hear our Harpenden volunteer, Helen, talk about the projects she has started on her own Harpenden street and why she would like to see more Wilderhood Watch streets start across the town?
While much needs to be done at a national level to support British wildlife, we can all make a difference to the local wildlife where we live simply by working with our neighbours and creating safe havens outside our own houses. We look forward to connecting with you!
Find out more
Book your free tickets here to the Our Planet Our Future Building Green Street Communities Speaker and Discussion event. It takes place on 9th January, 7.30pm at the Plough and Harrow pub, 88 Southdown Road, Harpenden. Speakers will include Wilderhood Watch as well as Sustainable St Albans’ own Meet Your Neighbours projects. The event will include opportunities for round table discussions.         Â
Wilderhood Watch details
- Website: Â www.wilderhoodwatch.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wilderhoodwatch/
Our Planet Our Future
Find more speaker and discussion events here: https://sustainablestalbans.org/our-planet-our-future/
Meet Your Neighbours
Find ideas on how to build the community where you live here: https://sustainablestalbans.org/meet-your-neighbours/
With thanks to Wilderhood Watch for kindly allowing us to use their photos for this post.