Mission

The 2023 State of Nature report informs us that Britain is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Habitat loss and fragmentation have contributed to significant declines in pollinating insects and other wildlife, weakening the ecosystems on which both people and nature depend. Insects are essential not only for food production, but for the reproduction of wild plants as well as being food for birds and small mammals.

Urban areas have an important role to play in reversing this decline. Research has shown that towns and cities can support rich pollinator communities, sometimes exceeding those found in intensively farmed landscapes. Collectively, London’s domestic gardens make up nearly a quarter of London, yet many gardens are managed in ways that provide little value for insects and other pollinators.

London has 4,400 parks and, in 2019, became the first National Park City. However, these communal green spaces can only support healthy insect and bird populations if species are able to move safely between them. Therefore, the challenge is not simply in improving established habitat but connecting what we already have. Private gardens, balconies, and courtyards have enormous potential to act as stepping stones between larger green spaces, but this opportunity remains largely untapped.

Margins sits at the intersection of urban conservation and horticulture: applying the principles of habitat creation and ecological connectivity at the scale of individual gardens. It uses horticulture not simply to create attractive spaces, but to help build functioning urban ecosystems. We want to turn private gardens into connected green corridors as part of a vital and much needed nature recovery project.

Nature is incredibly resilient and it doesn’t need much from us, other than a willingness to share our outside spaces with it. The garden where Margins began is tiny and shady, yet it supports a wide range of birds (goldcrests, various tits, starlings, collared doves, wrens, robins, blackbirds, wood pigeons) and insects (all manner of bees, moths, butterflies, flies, and bugs), simply through including a large range of native plants, creating mini habitats, improving soil health, and offering a small water source.

Every garden, however small, has the potential to become part of a connected network of habitat. Let’s welcome nature back in.