When I knew that I needed to retire as a Trustee from Kent Wildlife Trust, my initial sadness was replaced by reinvigoration when I was welcomed to the Gardening for a Wilder Kent team.  I was so looking forward to the training and visiting other people’s gardens when we were hit, in common with everyone else, by the pandemic.  We were lucky in the team that Maureen kept our training courses going, while we looked for new ways to keep spreading our message.  Action for Insects could have been tailor-made for us, as Gardening for a Wilder Kent has been working with the general public for years to encourage them to provide food, water and shelter for creatures in their green spaces. 

We’ve had a WhatsApp group for a long time, but we had to learn Zoom. We are now communicating with the wider public by print and zoom – so do let us know if any group you are involved with would like a Gardening for Wildlife column in your newsletter or a zoom session.  

Then there’s training and discussion amongst ourselves, often with great speakers.  We had Dave Goulson (founder of Bumblebee Conservation Trust) and now we are looking forward to debating with Richard Moyse (formerly of Plantlife) this month. 

Several of us have given talks in the past and we are encouraging groups we know to have a Zoom call with us talking about our favourite topic - Gardening for a Wilder Kent. We have found that working in small teams, has given us all new skills and most of all the confidence that this horrible time has eroded!   

We have been thoroughly stimulated by the Wildlife Trusts’ YouTube sessions and we shared the petition about neonicotinoids. We have plans for opening gardens when we can and look forward with confidence that we have more knowledge, skills and tools than we did when Lockdown first started.  You couldn’t want much more than that from life, could you!