So, in the next few weeks we will be leaving our first family home, a first floor flat in Valley Green, Woodhall Farm, to move to our first owned house, with a garden, on Cambrian Way, Highfield.
The locality names paint a picture of a rural setting, but I'm in fact talking about the town of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. With a population of over 90,000 it is one of the most highly populated towns in Herts, & part of the Greater London Urban Area.
As towns go, we are lucky that even the most developed areas are green, the roads lined with trees, & neigbourhoods scattered with small parks, woods & wild areas of 'waste' ground - all great for supporting urban wildlife. But, the habitats with by far the greatest potential for supporting a myriad of species are much closer to home, right on our doorstep in fact... our gardens.