MPs who responded to a questionnaire about wildlife gardening generally regard it favourably, though their answers show that one or two myths persist.
The small sample of MPs were among the many people who have responded to a the questionnaire run by
Wild About Gardens: a collaborative project between the RHS and the Wildlife Trusts. MPs favourite animals ranged from hedgehogs and birds through to invertebrates like butterflies and ladybirds. All responding MPs agreed that wildlife enhances their enjoyment of the garden, that gardeners should do more to support wildlife and gardeners can come to the rescue of species in decline.
The Liberal Democrats who responded to the survey believed that they did not know enough about gardening for wildlife, whilst three-quarters of responding Conservatives admitted to not knowing enough. Labour MPs were more knowledgeable with almost half believing they knew enough about gardening for wildlife. Only four MPs (evenly split between Labour and Conservative) believed their garden was too small to garden for wildlife, only two MPs (Lab/Con) agreed that gardening for wildlife means an unsightly, messy garden, and just one MP (Con) believed gardening for wildlife was too costly.
Simon Thornton-Wood, Assistant Director of Science & Learning for the RHS, said,
'It is encouraging to see that most of the MPs surveyed here agree on the importance of gardens as potential wildlife habitats. However, some common myths still prevail. Wild About Gardens aims to show that you don't have to let your garden go wild for it to be good for wildlife. Beautiful gardens for people can simultaneously be valuable environments for wildlife.'
