Get involved with nature at home

We’ve compiled some great ways for you to get involved with nature at home.

Create a more pollinator friendly garden with advice from Bee Friendly Monmouthshire, including:
* Providing pollinator friendly flowers throughout the year.
* Give places for insect pollinators to live.
* Avoid using chemicals that harm pollinators.
There are lots of great links to help you find plants, discover more about wildlife gardening and organic pest control techniques.

Create a pollinator friendly garden

Bee friendly Monmouthshire have also shared two citizen science projects that you can get involved with:

The British Trust for Ornithology  “Garden BirdWatch”

Unlike the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, the BTO survey is a year-round commitment.  You can just record birds, but in recent years the survey has been extended to include other species of particular interest to wildlife researchers, so you can also record the butterflies and bumblebees in your garden.

OPAL: Nation pollination survey
This survey is listed on the FAQ information sheet for the Welsh Government Bee Friendly Action Plan.

The Wildlife Trusts have lots of great things to do, including activities for kids and families.

Will you learn how to identify bees, make your own compost or build a hedgehog home? See all their ideas.

Keep an eye on Ospreys, puffins, peregrines, owls…and more!

If you’re stuck indoors you can keep up with nature by watching wildlife on webcams provided by Wildlife Trusts across the British Isles. Webcams allow an unrivaled view of intriguing behaviours: from courtship, nesting, and hatching to a peep into the first few weeks of a chick’s life.

Gwent wildlife trust (our local trust) has a blog piece on #wildlifefromhome, helping you spot, record and share the wildlife you can see from home.

You can support conservation with your sightings by recording them and submitting them to the South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre. There are a range of surveys to take part in covering pollinator monitoring, freshwater habitats, butterflies and birds.
Find out how to submit your recordings and see the surveys.