Our Head Kitchen Gardener Alex shares an insight into how we’re supporting our pollinators and looking after the land around our West Sussex PIG.
“Even before the doors opened to THE PIG-in the South Downs in 2021, our team always tried our best to support and encourage wildlife around our Madehurst house,” Alex says.
“As the building was being carefully restored and refurbished to help transform it into a PIG, we made sure we made the very best use of the scaffolding by adding bird boxes for local swallows and swifts.
“There was always going to be a little bit of disruption when the time finally came for us to open in September 2021 (few people had been around up until then, due to the pandemic) but our efforts and commitment were clear from the start: we will always do what we can to support and encourage biodiversity here.
“Ahead of opening, we rejuvenated our dipping pond which is now home to frogs, toads and a whole array of different insects with damselfly and dragonfly larvae helping to keep the mosquito larvae down. The pond is also a great source of water and nectar for our bees who live in our own PIG hives on our grounds, so we have a strong, healthy colony who can always forage.
“We often find ladybirds and lacewings around our pond which feed on aphids – one of the biggest pests (and challenges!) we have to deal with in the Kitchen Garden. To encourage these helpful friends to stick around the grounds of the house and support us with protecting the Kitchen Garden, we use any spare logs we can find to build log walls and large habitat piles; they make pretty cosy houses for these brilliant insects.
“Currently, we have a student called Elliot with us who has joined us for work experience in the Kitchen Garden for his Level 3 Advanced Technical Diploma in Land and Wildlife Management at Plumpton College. For part of his diploma, Elliot is building a hibernaculum for us at THE PIG-in the South Downs (here’s a peek of how the team at THE PIG-near Bath built their first one last summer!).
“One of the greatest rewards we’ve seen in our patch over the years is the increase in hedgehogs. Our teams have made new hedgehog homes which are scattered around our gardens. Gardeners are always up with the dawn, so it’s pretty special to be able to spot more of them rustling around in these spring months.
“As for the bird song at this time of year – it’s just incredible. You can pick up over 20 different species at any one time. This includes some “red list” species of birds which are of greatest conservation concern, such as the Greenfinch and Mistle Thrush. Hearing them or spotting them really helps you understand why it’s so important to protect wildlife, look after the environment and do what we can to help it thrive.
“Our team have also installed bat boxes around the grounds (you’ll often spot them flying overhead at night!) and we use any spare logs from trees that have naturally come down in storms, to build log walls and large habitat piles to encourage the many beneficial insects to stay around the grounds of the hotel.
“As the Head Kitchen Gardener here at THE PIG-in the South Downs, I am really pleased with the balance of nature we have created across our grounds. Gardens and gardeners will only ever benefit from increasing biodiversity, and we know there is always more we can do. You can be sure we’re completely up for the challenge!”
Whether it’s from our planted wildflowers, homemade bug houses, or wild hedgerows growing in our grounds, there are so many things to see and enjoy that support biodiversity across each of THE PIGs. Come and see them for yourself the next time you head round to ours.
