When you ask people to consider which areas of their local landscape they consider to be ‘biodiversity hotspots’ they may say a local nature reserve or an ancient woodland, but I suspect very few would say their local allotments. However, anyone who has spent time on an allotment site, even one buried in the heart of an urban area, will tell you that allotments are great for wildlife and I always say that I see more wildlife on my allotment than I do anywhere else.

Before the intensification of agriculture in the 20th Century, facilitated by the development of agrochemicals and mechanisation, farming in Britain was an untidy activity. Fields were small, hedgerows and woodlands were unkempt and almost every farm had a pond. In addition, hay meadows and arable fields alike were full of ‘weeds’ and there were large areas of unmanaged, uncultivated land.

This type of landscape, which epitomised Britain’s unique ‘green and pleasant land’, created a rich mosaic of habitats that made it the perfect environment for wildlife to thrive. Indeed, the suitability of this type of landscape for wildlife can still be seen in those areas where it survives (usually in our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, AONBs).

‘What has this got to do with allotments!?’ I hear you cry. Well I believe that allotments mirror traditional British agriculture rather nicely and that is why they are so rich in wildlife. Allotments are a system of small fields that are often cultivated in an inefficient and untidy way and which escape the attention of large-scale agrochemical application or mechanisation. There is always considerable land on an allotment site that goes uncultivated and many plot-holders actively encourage wildlife as they know that it can benefit their crops to grow them in a healthy and balanced ecosystem.

 

Whether on an urban site or in a rural location like the Hagg Lane Allotments in the Rivelin Valley, an allotment site is an attractive mosaic of habitats that allows both wildlife and people to thrive and flourish. Image by Roger Butterfield. Some rights reserved.

Unfortunately, despite their obvious importance to people and wildlife alike, allotment sites around the country are constantly coming under threat from those who want to use the land for another use: usually development. Allotment sites occupy land that often has considerable value as real estate and, as the local councils that own the sites cannot point to any tangible economic value (a plot costs around £20 per year to rent), allotments are often sacrificed when proposals for more ‘important’ land uses are produced.

The threat to allotments that exists right across Britain, but which is most acute in the south east where the pressure on land is at its greatest, is well illustrated by two well publicised examples.

A hundred years ago a man called Major Villiers bequeathed the site of the Manor Gardens allotments in Hackney to be allotments in perpetuity, but the 1.8 hectare site is now to be bulldozed and concreted over to create a footpath that will form part of the 2012 Olympic village. When the four weeks of the games have passed the site will be turned into a reed bed, which, while placating the wider community’s desire for the games to be environmentally friendly, will not replace the social, cultural and biological richness that exists there now.

Elsewhere, in the heart of Reading town centre another small allotment site called the Cow Lane allotments will soon be destroyed by a proposed £500 million redevelopment of the railway station and surrounding road network. The benefits of this development to the wider community will be considerable, but this will not lessen the loss for the local people and wildlife for who the site is so important.

Having learned of these stories I did a little background research into how different groups regard the value of allotment sites for wildlife. First, I came across a document produced by the London Assembly in 2006 called, ‘A Lot to Lose: London’s disappearing allotments’, which revealed that in the last 10 years 37 allotment site have been lost in London representing 1,534 plots (6.9%). The document gives a good account of the largely anecdotal evidence for and against allotment sites as important wildlife habitats. While a Friends of the Earth report in 1991 concluded that allotments were of “little importance” to wildlife habitat creation in urban areas, the RSPB and plot-holders strongly disagreed -

“House sparrows and starlings are among the birds disappearing from our streets but it’s noticeable from our annual Big Garden/Big Schools’ Birdwatch campaigns that areas around allotments fare much better…to some an untended plot may be an eyesore but these wild areas are home to a wide range of birds and insects. Bramble and ivy provide both food and shelter all year round and are favoured by wrens, robins, blackbirds and song thrushes.”

RSPB, 2006.

It therefore seems that there are conflicting opinions about the value of allotments for wildlife, but perhaps it is the way that the owning council regards the value of allotments that is the most important factor. I came across a chapter called ‘Wildlife’ in Reading Borough Council’s ‘State of the Environment’  report and considered that this would give me the answer to this question. In the document they describe how they have identified important sites for nature conservation in reading and designated them as Wildlife Heritage Sites. Of the 22 allotment sites in Reading not one was listed as an important habitat for wildlife.

So despite a tumult of anecdotal evidence that allotments are valuable habitats for wildlife, it seems that this value is still not recognised in the way that it is for other ‘green’ spaces in our urban environments. Therefore, if we are to increase the protection of our allotment sites it seems we must gather more empirical evidence of their biological richness. In line with this conclusion, this summer we have begun a research project in Reading to examine the diversity of wildlife on allotments and compare it with the diversity on other green spaces in the town. It will be interesting to see what we find.

For more information about allotments visit Allotments-UK or to read about the history of allotments read Brian King’s article ‘A Short History of Allotments in England & Wales’.

If you want to learn about the controversy surrounding the Manor Garden Allotments visit www.lifeisland.org.

To read more about the allotments of London read the London Assembly’s article ‘A Lot to Lose: London’s disappearing allotments’. 

 

Allotments are great places to see wildlife of all types and especially insects like these mating craneflies. Image by N Paling.