Red Deer Village, the over 50’s residential park in Glasgow, Scotland, are delighted to announce a wonderful achievement. As part of the David Bellamy “Blooming Marvellous” Pledge for Nature, we have successfully won the Pollinator Patch challenge! This is fantastic news for all of our hard working gardeners and staff at the park. They do their utmost to be nature and wildlife conscious, and it’s great to see their efforts have paid off. The timing of this award is perfect – the achievement is in time for our 20 year anniversary in mid June. Read on to find out how Red Deer Village achieved Pollinator Patch Pledge success!

David Bellamy “Blooming Marvellous” Pledge for Nature

Red Deer Village has been involved with the David Bellamy scheme for a number of years. We’ve achieved many accolades, including special recognition for being a honey bee friendly park, and for our hedgerows, woodlands and wildflowers. In recent years, we have achieved the Home Sweet Home Pledge for creating artificial homes for wildlife. The following year, we achieved the Everyone Active Pledge for trying to get our residents involved in our efforts.

Habitat Creation

We leave areas of the park uncut to allow grasses and clover to flower and provide nectar sources. Banking is left short for solitary bees. Long flowering shrubs, flowers and native wildflower mix have been planted for their benefit. Beetle banks are in place, whilst log piles and organic matter serve as bug hotels. Frogs, toads, tadpoles and even ducks have been noticed over time, and birds drink from our fresh water ponds. Hedging is planted for the safety and habitat of smaller animals. Plus, trees have been planted in newer areas of the park. Red Deer Village also has a compost heap.

An owl box has been built and is located in our holiday park. Bird feeders and bird boxes are in areas of the park where members of the public and residents can see them displayed. Some residents even have their own bird feeders. We have managed to catch many on camera, the most recent being multiple goldfinches. Check out our video below to see awesome footage of birds using our feeders, and a fox run by!

Red Deer Village has also carried out a mixture of hand crafting and purchasing hedgehog boxes. We’ve positioned them along hedgerows to provide undisturbed travel. The gardening team try and move their positions to promote their use. Plus, residents have sent in the odd picture of a spotted hedgehog.

Red Deer Village have committed to Plantlife’s No Mow May for the second year in a row. We will be leaving a grass area of 9 square metres uncut until the end of summer, to encourage growth and nectar sources.

Pollinator Patch Pledge

Our challenge over the last year was the Pollinator Patch Pledge. The park has won this by planting around 1700 plants! Over an area of empty banking that will not be disturbed, we have now planted 425 square meters of cotoneaster coral beauty. These are valuable sources of nectar for pollinating insects. This was a big team project, and was completed in early March. It doesn’t look like much just now, but we can’t wait to see it all bloom! We are also looking at areas in our holiday park that we can devote to potential wildflower or pollinating areas. This will give the park a nice look and encourage more wildlife. 

RSPB

Red Deer Village’s office team recently held a video chat with David Anderson from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). He suggested how we can improve our wildflower areas. He also offered to come out and give residents a talk on Baron’s Haugh nature reserve. Furthermore, he advised how residents can get involved in the nature reserve and how to volunteer if they would like.

In previous newsletters, we have promoted bird watching as an activity. We have suggested regular gardening tips, and ideas on how to help nature using the RSPB’s calendar on what to do each month. The retirement village has achieved the RSPB Bronze Wild Challenge, with aims to achieve silver.

Promoting Wildlife and a Green Environment

Our retirement park regularly communicates with residents about the potential to help wildlife and biodiversity. We have offered a gardening class recently to residents in order to teach them about planting and habitat, which we hope to hold this year. Last year, we held a gardening competition, with the winner being the garden which is best for habitat creation. We plan to judge the next gardening competition in June, with a new category for most improved garden.

On our news page, you can find blogs about the David Bellamy Blooming Marvellous Pledge for Nature and our work involved. You’ll also find blogs on  carbon literacy, how to reduce carbon footprint and on biodiversity. On our Youtube channel, you’ll find day and night vision videos on animals wandering the park, using our special camouflaged wildlife cameras.

We were also recently featured in the BH&HPA journal in a press release on our “green” activity, which was excellent exposure for our efforts!

Red Deer Village’s retirement village of residential park homes have installed EV chargers. Our holiday park offers active travellers discounts, for guests who can prove they travelled to the park sustainably using public transport.

What’s Next

Red Deer Village’s ongoing development means we are always looking at what we can do next to encourage wildlife. Our retirement park has successfully added more wild areas for butterflies and bees as we set out to achieve. Furthermore, we’ve added more boundary banking and trees. We’re excited to see what pledge we’ll take next, with a visit due from the David Bellamy team due this year!

To find out more about Red Deer Village, our environmental efforts or our residential park home for sale, please contact us. A member of our friendly office team will be happy to help.