written by Matthew Oates, Adviser on Nature Conservation, Estates Department

Wildlife gets everywhere; there is even a fungus, which specialises in aeroplane fuel pipes. Indeed, wildlife is dynamic, readily exploiting opportunities presented by change. New species can colonise when ecological change occurs, though other species can be adversely affected by the same changes. At the same time, continuity is also appreciated, for breaks in continuity of habitat supply have contributed greatly to the demise of much of Britain's wildlife.

Established gardens, where conditions are relatively stable, offer an unusual degree of continuity of habitat. In fact, they may be some of the most stable habitats in Britain, though in ecological terms they are of recent origin and are far from natural. The importance of such gardens for wildlife at a time of rapid and radical land use change is obvious. They provide islands of relative stability in what is becoming a landscape increasingly hostile to wildlife.

Uncharted territories
Gardens are being seen as increasingly important refuges for a wide range of our native species, particularly in the face of urban sprawl and intensive agriculture. There is a wide range of native and naturalised species which are particularly well adapted to garden environments, many of which are losing the more natural habitats with which they have been associated.

Neglected gardens can be rapidly colonised by wildlife, though equally rapid decline and extinction is inevitable when gardens are restored. Whether this is fair on both the gardens and gardener's remains to be determined, for the implications of allowing wildlife a significant say in how gardens are managed can be considerable.

Thanks to the Biological Survey Team, we have a good idea of the flora and fauna of Trust countryside properties and parks. However, our formal gardens have never been surveyed and the Trust's Nature Conservation section has little idea as to what they hold. Some gardeners are keen naturalists, recording wildlife seen in the gardens and producing information for visitors, and some gardens are even visited by stray Nature Conservation Advisers. However, no central information base exists on wildlife in the Trust's gardens. Consequently, we have no overview picture and it is difficult to identify priority habitat features and species. No real channels of communication exist between gardening staff and the Trust's Nature Conservation section. As a result, practices impacting on wildlife in our gardens are far from harmonised.

It appears that Trust gardens are important for numerous scarce or declining species, notably various amphibians and birds such as the spotted flycatcher. Some genuinely rare species occur in our gardens, as regular wanderers from adjacent 'natural' habitats or as bona fide garden residents. The latter include fungi, lichens, mosses and various esoteric invertebrates. Many Trust gardens are also inhabited or used by species, which are protected by law, notably various bats, badgers and great crested newts.

Above all, it is clear that Trust gardeners are in the front line when it comes to visitor perceptions concerning wildlife, including animal welfare issues. Gardeners can be castigated for a wide range of activities, such as trimming hedges during the nesting season and cutting the grass when frog and toadlets are emerging. Pond management in gardens is a particularly difficult issue. Gardeners can also come up against complex animal legislation while undertaking their duties. They also have to make decisions, which can result in the extinction of an ecosystem or a scarce species.

It is time the Trust set in place mechanisms, which provide support and advice to gardeners on wildlife matters. We need to determine the nature conservation significance of the Trust's gardens and produce policies and practical strategies for conserving that significance in ways that do not compromise the garden.