Wildlife projects on a budget
Stephen Thompson (The Conservation Buddha), gives us some of the best sustainability and wildlife projects that golf clubs can do on a budget.
Golf courses have had a bad reputation in the past for not doing enough, but now more than ever courses all over the UK are getting involved in wildlife projects and are trying to become more sustainable for the future to help keep costs down.
One of the simplest things a golf course can do to be more sustainable is cut less grass; less cutting, frees up man hours for other jobs. It also means less wear and tear on machines and, by leaving long grass, you are automatically creating a wildlife habitat without spending any money.
Golf courses are not just grass!
Throughout my career, I have been involved in numerous wildlife projects on the course, in particular, nestboxes and creating wildflower areas. Both of these are a great way of improving your course and making it a more enjoyable experience, but they can come at a cost. The wood to make the boxes is not cheap - especially if you want to make a lot of them, and wildflower seed is expensive. I am going to talk about cheaper, more sustainable ways of creating wildlife projects on your course, as well as alternative ways to control some turf pests - limiting the need for expensive chemicals.
Nestboxes and bug hotels
The easiest way to get the wood needed for nestboxes would be to go straight to a timber merchant and order sheets of ply cut into strips, but this could be expensive. There are alternatives that could save you money and you would be doing your bit for recycling and sustainability.
- Contact your local timber merchant and ask about offcuts they might have. Often, this wood would be thrown out as unusable, but you could use it and it would most likely be free.
- Courses are always taking deliveries such as turf or fertiliser, which is usually on wooden pallets. Don’t throw away the pallets - they can be recycled to make bird or bat boxes and also can be used to make bug hotels. wildlifewatch.org.uk/make-bug-hotel
- If any tree work is being done on the course, save some of the small logs and, if you have the tools, the logs can be hollowed out to mimic a natural cavity - then, all you need would be a lid.
Wildflower areas
A wildflower area will give you a much needed important habitat for pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies to the course, whilst also providing an area of colour and a focal point for members. More insects means more birds and bats that might eat them. The first thing to do is to pick a suitable area, perhaps somewhere out of play where golfers are less likely to hit a ball, and prepare the ground.
Wildflower seed on its own can be quite expensive, but here are a few ways you could achieve the end result at minimal cost.
- Find a local wildflower meadow locally and ask permission if you can collect some of their seed.
- Check out this link on how to collect seed.
- Conservation organisations sometimes give seed away.
- If you have to buy seed, buy a wildflower/grass mix as it will be cheaper.
- Buy native British wildflower where you can.
- If you cut and collect a wildflower area, don’t just dump the cuttings - you can use them to spread on another area.
- Make sure you add Yellow Rattle to your seed mixes. Yellow Rattle is a parasitic plant that will attack the roots of the thicker grasses and weeds you do not want, limiting their height and allowing the flowers to grow and be more visible. This will also limit the need to use chemicals.
- You do not need to fertilise wildflower areas. The less fertile the better, so that other weeds/grasses you don’t want are discouraged.