For many people, the recent lockdown has been a frustrating and often frightening situation, but regarding the natural world, it’s probably been the biggest and most successful conservation effort ever seen, albeit an unintentional one.

For a start, there are plants recolonising areas previously trampled on by thousands of tourists. This has allowed butterflies, bees and other pollinators to return.

There has also been a lack of disturbance for many of our ground-nesting birds.

In fact, it seems that wildlife everywhere is taking advantage of the recent lack of human activity.

So what of the future? No doubt we all want nothing more than to return to our normal way of life, but when we do, let’s not forget the plants and animals that benefited from this time of reduced activity.

We now have a golden opportunity to make the ‘new normal’ something that continues to benefit our wildlife.

Simple things like sticking to designated paths and taking our litter home with us can make a big difference. Gardening for wildlife is another way we can all help conserve the mammals, birds and insects in our area.

While lockdown has allowed much of our wildlife to flourish, it’s up to us to make a concerted effort to build on that and continue to do all we can to conserve our precious wildlife, thus making this the biggest conservation project ever.

LB LOXLEY