A business park may not at first glance seem like a haven for wildlife, but you’d be surprised!
At Quorum Park, we have a variety of creatures regularly spotted on site, including foxes, rabbits, hedgehogs, ducks and bats – as well as some resident water voles. And this is no accident; we’ve worked hard to create inviting habitats, not only to help protect our local environment, but also to provide opportunities for volunteers.
During the current lockdown period we have introduced Wild Wednesdays, a range of weekly nature activities to help keep home-schooled children busy and garden wildlife nourished in the winter months.
But activities like these are nothing new. Since plans for the park were first conceived, we’ve prided ourselves on fostering and promoting the very best environmental practices. In fact, when our water vole family was first spotted during construction, we made alterations to protect them totalling £150,000, and a park-wide wildlife corridor was introduced to guarantee the freedom of any visiting wildlife.
We now see animals including squirrels, badgers and roe deer, and are particularly pleased that bats visit us; as a protected species, their presence is recognised as an indicator of the overall health of the surrounding ecosystem. Similarly, having consulted with the RSPB, we’ve spotted oystercatchers, pied wagtails and Scandinavian waxwings among the foliage of our carefully selected berry-bearing bushes.
We have a resident beekeeper, Terry Hastings, who has helped us create nine on site hives since he joined the park community 10 years ago. These days, we’re even proud to produce our own brand of honey!
With the help of volunteer wildlife champions from across our many tenant organisations, we’ve also built six separate bug hotels – all made from recycled building materials found from across the site.
The volunteer wildlife champions work hard to ensure our streams are kept clean, our bird feeders are filled, and hedgehog boxes are placed in just the right spots across the park.
There’s a lot to get involved with, and in 2021 we’re planning even more as we continue our work on re-wilding the park’s perimeter to encourage wildflower growth and help provide members of our community with more and more places to connect with nature on their breaks from work.
Like us, biodiversity is something a great many members of our park community care deeply about, and that has helped to ensure our growing wildlife programme continues to thrive.
Why not get involved? To find out more about the many ways in which you can protect and enjoy nature on site, visit quorumpark.com.