BD: Biodiversity Action Plan

Question 1

1. What are some of the garden practices that might be
   included in the recommendations for boosting biodiversity
   in a BAP? Make FIVE suggestions and a brief rationale.

Answer 1

leaving log piles in discrete shaded locations – boost invertebrate
biodiversity,

softening a gradient to a pond and planting up with water-loving plants
– improve access to water, creating habitat, and impeding human
access to water as a safety measure,

• new shrub planting along boundaries – to build up wildlife corridors,

underplanting of roses in old-fashioned rose border with ground cover
perennials – small habitat boost and reduces area of bare soil,

replacing annual bedding with a seed-sown hardy annual mix, and
leaving the seed heads until mid-winter – benefits for pollinators and
bird life

Question 2

1. Briefly outline what a biodiversity action plan is, with
   reference to garden situations.

Answer 2

A BAP is a plan that sets out to analyse a particular place from the point of
view of biodiversity and sets out ways in which it could be improved. Targets
are set and proposals are made and dates set for implementation. In a garden
a BAP is a way of looking at what we do in the garden in a wider context.
BAPs operate at many different scales and within many different
organisational and institutional contexts. They are actually very
straightforward and can easily be developed for a small scale, even a private
garden.
In a garden context, much of the content of a BAP would be concerned with
issues of plant selection, and management.