YORKSHIRE Wildlife Trust has launched a Wildlife Gardening Award to thank and inspire gardeners to care for creatures on their doorstep.

The award rewards action that everyone can take in their outdoor spaces to create places for wildlife, and has been designed so that people can take part no matter how much space they have. As well as private gardens, applicants can also submit their allotment, community garden, school grounds or business premises.

It takes just a few minutes to apply. Applicants are asked to submit detail on a number of different categories, including shelter, food, water, sustainability - including using peat-free compost - and connectedness to neighbours or nearby green spaces.

Successful wildlife gardeners will receive a certificate to celebrate their hard work, or for a small donation participants will receive a plaque that can be proudly displayed in their garden to encourage neighbours to do the same.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Chief Executive Rachael Bice said; “Large or small, ledge or yard, Yorkshire’s gardens and outdoor spaces can offer so much for bees, bats and birds. They provide a vital network for nature, natural havens linking up urban green spaces to the wider countryside beyond.

“One in seven species, including our once common hedgehogs, pipistrelle bats and bumblebees, are at risk of extinction in the UK, so the way we look after our 24 million gardens really matters.”

Jack Wallington, wildlife gardening advocate based in Calderdale and author of A Greener Life, says: “Whether they’re big or small, gardens are amazing places where we can interact with wildlife - watching a buzzing bee or listening to the cheerful singing of birds. By making small changes as to how we look after our gardens we can play an important role in improving and maintaining habitats for all kinds of wildlife, from providing ponds to drink from, leaving seed heads to eat and fallen leaves for birds and frogs to rummage through. Help your garden come alive and you might find it has the same effect on you.”

Resources are available to inspire gardeners across Yorkshire, including;

*Planting wildflowers: ywt.org.uk/actions/how-grow-wild-patch-or-mini-meadow

*Creating a small container pond: wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-create-mini-pond

*Putting up a bee, bird or bat box: ywt.org.uk/actions/how-make-bee-hotel and more

To apply for a wildlife gardening award, visit ywt.org.uk/Wildlife-Gardening-Award/.