How a Simple Wool Wrap Sparked a Biodiversity Boost

What might seem like waste to one is valuable nesting material for another.

This is how we think as urban gardeners. Nothing goes to waste, and we only use materials that already are or can be recycled.

Our team of gardeners recently took delivery of some trees for planting and when they were unloading noticed the roots were wrapped in a lovely natural woolly fibre. A thermal fleecy material used to retain moisture in the tree roots while they were in transit.

We knew that lovely wool would serve another purpose further down the line. But we couldn’t have imagined how popular it would be!

As tree planting got underway, we agreed to carefully put the wool fibre to one side. We agreed it would work as a weed suppressant for a new bed we were planting. As a biodegradable material, we knew it wouldn’t harm the plants, would look nice in the bed and would work well keeping the weeds out whilst allowing water to seep through.

Next thing, the gardeners noticed the birds were making a beeline for the woolly fibre. Stealing it in beak-fulls!

So, we put a special store of the woolly fibre to one side for them to help themselves for their spring nests.

We’ll report back soon with updates on how the new family of birds are doing.