Saving swifts, pollinator news and gardening on clay

Gardening with the RHS

Royal Horticultural Society

Home & Garden, Leisure, Hobbies

4.4 • 654 Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2022

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Swifts... their screaming calls are the sound of summer, yet these aerial acrobats are in trouble. Their UK population has declined by almost 60% over the last two decades. This week we meet John Stimpson, the man on a mission to reverse the decline of this much-loved bird. Does garden size matter when it comes to providing food for pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies? New research from the RHS along with the Universities of Bristol, Cardiff and Northumbria shows that even tiny gardens have a valuable role to play – but it all depends on the planting. The paper also produced interesting findings on how certain types of plants and flower shapes were particularly useful to pollinators, as scientist Nick Tew explains. Plus RHS gardening advisor Nikki Barker shares tips on how to garden successfully on clay soil. Useful links RHS wildlife gardening hub The man who built homes for 60,000 swifts (Guardian article) University of Bristol press release (pollinator research) RHS advice on gardening on clay soil

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Get your tickets for the greatest show in Earth at an RHS garden near you.
0:06.4	Where nature puts on an unforgettable performance of colour and fragrance to delight your senses.
0:13.2	Inspire your gardening adventures and entertain your own little stars.
0:17.4	Race you, let's go.
0:19.5	Catch Springs finest scenes while you can add an RHS garden near you.
0:24.0	Book tickets online for discounts, plus under fives go free and under 16s of five pounds.
0:30.0	Welcome to Gardening with the RHS, with me Guy Barta.
0:35.0	Later today, we'll be tackling clay soil and hearing how shrubs can be secret sources
0:40.9	of nectar. But first, this is the call of a bird that arrives in Britain every spring.
0:51.2	It's the swift. A small but mighty animal that really knows the meaning of a long haul trip.
0:59.0	You see a little bird like that that flies from England to South Africa every year, there and back, that's a hell of a journey.
1:08.0	What's even more amazing is that they travel over 6,000 miles without landing.
1:14.6	Once it leaves its nest, it's three years before it touches ground in any shape or
1:19.6	form.
1:20.6	It will touch ground then when it is nesting.
1:23.6	But these remarkable birds are under threat, according to the RSPB. Their numbers have dropped by over 50% in the last 20 years.
1:32.3	So in Step John.
1:34.3	My name is John Stimson.
1:36.3	I started making Swift boxes some 14 years ago.
1:40.3	And to date, I've made 30,000. That's a lot of swift boxes. In fact, it's enough to house
1:48.6	half of the breeding population in this country. John hit this number as part of a challenge
1:54.7	ahead of his 80th birthday, which was in January. And now John spends up to 12 hours a day making these boxes, something
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Royal Horticultural Society, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Royal Horticultural Society and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.