Boosting Biodiversity with Limited Manpower

Working for a Forest of Flowers

If I had more time (or an extra pair of hands!), I’d love to make a YouTube video on our Diversity Hot-Spots (DHS). They’re proving to be one of the most valuable innovations in our rewilding toolkit.

This Summer marked the second completed year of DHSs as biodiversity generators. Alongside them, I planted hundreds of wild-flowering perennials and spent many hours on bramble and thistle scything (Yes, literal scything!).

To give early pollinators a boost, I also planted 1,600 “Bulbi” bulbs - crocus and other early spring flowers. Look out for some photos of them in March 2026: they’ll be the first sign of color after winter and a lifeline for insects in a season that’s been barren lately.

What is a DHS?

Each DHS begins as a 5m x 5m patch and combines different elements such as:

• Corrugated iron (Grass suppression and reptile habitat)

• Black plastic (grass suppression, ~4m²)

• Piles of bricks, logs, hay, sticks, and rubble

• Leafpit “myco-generator”

• Mini-pond or micro-pond

• Cut-grass mini-meadow

Think of them as micro-habitats stitched together - tiny worlds that invite life in.

Current Progress

We now have 30 DHSs at varying levels of maintenance. As always, a bias exists towards success. More effort is applied where it is visibly successful!

Highlights so far:

• Flourishing perennials - roses, grapevines, lavender, and many local species thrive in the soil improved by moving black plastic.

• Wildlife shelter - DHS’s host insects, arthropods, snails, small mammals, and reptiles (snakes were quieter this year, but lizards did well). Frogs and toads are holding strong.

• Food webs forming - these micro-habitats pull in predators like foxes and raptors, weaving new ecological networks.

Deploying Additional DHS

 I'm currently working to establish 8 additional DHSs on the three parcels at "Canivet-far-side". Each of these new ones starts simple - black plastic, a log pile, a hay pile, and a myco-generator (Leaf pit) - plus, of course, Bulbi bulbs.

Next step: two ponds to add even more habitat diversity.

Why It Matters

The DHSs have already proven their worth at enriching the “deserts of grass”. With more effort, they could do the same for forested areas, layering in diversity where tree cover is otherwise monotonous.

The real barrier? Manpower

Right now, our Ranger team’s energy is like thin margarine spread over a very large slice of toast. To scale up, we need volunteers to keep building momentum.

Takeaways

• 🌱 DHS’s = success: they’re already driving biodiversity in grassland.

• 🌸 1600 spring bulbs planted: expect crocus blooms in March 2026.

• 🦎 Wildlife is thriving: especially lizards, frogs, toads, and raptors.

• 🛠 30 DHS’s so far, with more underway at Canivet.

• 🚧 Main challenge: manpower - we need to grow the team to grow the forest of flowers!