For many years EVRA has run Spring and Summer garden competitions with the award of a cup for the gardens judged as best. There are many well kept gardens around the Village and these are to be commended. We appreciate that many residents may have a different view of what a garden should be and create and manage spaces to suit their lifestyle. Gardens evolve through what might work well for a young family to a leisurely and manageable space for more mature residents. But we can all think about providing a patch or area that benefits nature.
We wish to encourage residents to consider gardening more for the environment and wildlife and to create pollinator friendly gardens. Covid-19 and the various Lockdowns have led us to appreciating our gardens and green spaces more and it is evident that many residents have left patches of their plots to grow a little wilder, which is welcomed.
Residents in Rosebery Road, Norwich set up a community initiative to grow pollinator friendly plants in their gardens. EVRA would be keen to adopt a similar scheme for Eaton but it would require volunteer coordinators to help arrange and run this. Here is a report from the EDP about the Rosebery Road scheme:
Bid to turn Rosebery Road in Norwich into a ‘bee street’ | Eastern Daily Press (edp24.co.uk)
A recent report in the EDP highlights what communities can do to support the environment through bringing nature into urban areas and this benefits health and the economy. You can read the report at:
How urban nature is boosting Norwich’s health and economy | Eastern Daily Press (edp24.co.uk)
Greening initiatives run by The Norfolk Wildlife Trust and Wildeast provide information on their websites about how you can get involved by making your garden more environmentally friendly.
Norfolk Wildlife Trust has produced a series of leaflets on all aspects of wildlife – from gardening and composting to specific plants and animals. which can be downloaded from the website at:
Leaflets – Norfolk Wildlife Trust
Wildeast encourages all organisations and people to think about nature and plan for this to help create a region wide connected nature reserve. Your garden is as important as the largest estate and helps to provide a corridor linking areas for wildlife. You can read more about Wildeast on their website at: WildEast – A Movement of People, For Nature, Forever In East Anglia
Another site about with interesting and inspiring articles about nature and the environment is WingSearch by Barry Madden. Barry contributes reports about nature to local publications and writes about his sightings and experiences in his Blogs. Home – WingSearch2020
The Norfolk Flora Group has a wealth of information about wild plants found around the county with photos of many sightings in our own area. Several Eaton residents are members of the group and regularly visit local nature areas to record findings. The group website is at: About the Norfolk Flora Group | Norfolk Flora Group
The Norfolk Biodiversity Partnership is another site of interest with a list of local conservation groups and links to national wildlife recording programmes where you can report sightings in your garden or local area.