Back Gardens Research Articles

Fine-scale habitat selection of a small mammalian urban adapter: the West European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus)

Understanding patterns of habitat selection and factors affecting space use is fundamental in animal conservation. In urban landscapes, such knowledge can be used to advise householders on how best to manage their gardens for wildlife. In this study, we tracked 28 West European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus), a species of conservation concern in the UK, in an area of high-density housing using radio and GPS tags to quantify patterns of habitat use and identify factors associated with the proportion of time spent in individual gardens. Both males and females exhibited a preference for residential gardens, but there were subtle differences between the sexes in relation to house type and front versus back gardens. Hedgehogs spent significantly more time in gardens where artificial food was provided, where a compost heap was present, if foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were infrequent visitors, if it rained overnight and as daylength increased (i.e., shorter nights); garden use was not significantly associated with variables potentially likely to reflect invertebrate prey abundance. These data suggest that the primary positive action that householders can undertake for urban hedgehogs is providing supplementary food. However, householders often feed hedgehogs after they know they are already visiting their garden. Consequently, the presence of artificial food may make it difficult to identify other important influences affecting garden use. Finally, we report that a GPS fix acquisition rate < 60% likely had no major effect on the results of our analyses, but should be a consideration in future studies using this technique on this species and in this habitat.

“Talk about terror in our back gardens”: an analysis of online comments about British foreign fighters in Syria

ABSTRACTThe phenomenon of foreign fighters has become a central issue to the ongoing conflict in Syria. This article explores how members of the public answer the question ‘Why do British citizens join the conflict in Syria’ on social media sites and in response to online news articles. Building upon research on everyday narratives of security and terrorism, we analyse 807 comments, and in doing so, we argue that online comments are important in producing the discursive environment for making sense of British foreign fighters and what should be done in response to them. We find that there is a tendency to view British foreign fighters as being purely motivated by religion, and there is also a belief that British foreign fighters should be responded to through exceptional measures. We discuss the implications of such perceptions, and we highlight how problematic misconceptions about Islam and Muslims are not just disseminated through elite and media discourse, but through everyday narratives published by members of the public online.

Bed of roses? The role of garden space in older people's well-being

The purpose of this research was to investigate the role of outdoor housing environment (OHE), including front and back gardens, yards, courtyards, patios and balconies, in older people's well-being. Descriptions of their OHEs were collected from 2558 individuals living in 526 distinct housing developments using a postal questionnaire. A large range of background variables were measured, mainly through the questionnaire. Characteristics of respondents’ immediate neighbourhood environments were measured from digital maps and satellite/bird's-eye images. Among the OHE variables, statistically significant predictors of well-being were having one's own patio (as opposed to shared or none), and having a green view from one's living area (a positive effect on well-being). The authors conclude that it would be beneficial for older people's housing to include private patio space, where possible, as well as a large amount of greenery. The research supports the claim that older people benefit from green space as much by viewing it from inside as spending time in it. If older people have no or very little garden space, a green street environment is likely to increase their well-being, especially if it can be seen from their home.

The Pastimes of the People: Photographing House and Garden in London's Small Suburban Homes, 1880–1914

As access to photographs and improved housing increased from the turn of the century, images of front and back gardens taken by or for householders became a popular form of domestic photography. While all kinds of streets were photographed in this way, those built for an expanding artisan and clerical class who migrated to London's ‘bye-law’ suburbs form a significant proportion of surviving images. Carefully delineated photographs of terraced and semi-detached house fronts and back gardens may be read as individual records of family advancement and personal celebrations of the space and privacy of the new homes. Yet specific forms of these photographs were designed for sharing beyond the family, creating a semi-public visual culture and a dispersed photographic record of the exteriors of the working-class and lower-middle-class suburban house. Using representative examples of two groups of these sources—photographic postcards and readers' photographs published in Amateur Gardening magazine—this essay explores how and why the inhabitants of London's outer suburbs presented themselves, at home in their gardens, to family, friends and fellow gardeners. It finds that both photography and gardening could be social pastimes, and that through their exchange, these ‘suburban’ photographs reflected and even consciously demonstrated social progress in the form of increased leisure time and self-contained space in which to exercise it productively at home.

Using Size Class Distributions of Species to Deduce the Dynamics of the Private Urban Forest

Urban governance in Western societies is increasingly shaped by awareness of the importance of trees in maintaining the environmental function and social livability of cities. Records of change in urban forest composition on public land are generally good. However, a great proportion of trees in western cities occur on private land, where such changes are poorly-documented. The study authors trialed the use of size class analysis, a technique widely used to deduce the dynamics of natural forests, to determine change in the private urban forest. From a sample of blocks in ten suburbs of the Australian cities of Melbourne and Hobart, in which most dwellings have front and back gardens, researchers assessed the implications of changes for the functionality of the urban forest. The height class distributions of a large number of front garden tree taxa were classified. Although the factors affecting height class distributions differ between a natural and an urban forest, those distributions found for most species were so extreme that there was little doubt in interpretation. Tree species that can grow to a large height were under-represented in the smaller height classes, indicating their future decline in the private tree estate. Individuals of glossy-leaved small tree species were over-represented in the smaller height classes, indicating a recent increase in their popularity. The shift toward smaller, denser trees on private land has implications for the functions of the urban forest. A higher level of large tree protection on private land and compensation through planting on public land could mitigate impacts.

Making the case for plant diversity

AbstractThe Millennium Ecosystem Assessment estimates that between 60,000 and 100,000 plant species are threatened with extinction–equivalent to around one-quarter of the total number of known plant species. Why should we care? There are a number of reasons. The first is that these plants may be useful to us in unknown ways. Secondly, ecology has taught us that resilience is found in diversity. Thirdly, we should be saving plant species from extinction because we can–there is no technological reason why any plant species should become extinct. Where we can't protect and manage plant diversity in situ, we should be employing ex situ conservation techniques, ranging from seed banks to habitat restoration. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment describes such interventions as ‘techno-gardening’. This is not an abstract concept–it is already a reality in the majority of man-managed landscapes. In this context the perception of ex situ conservation as simply a back-up strategy for in situ conservation is mistaken. We are all involved in ex situ conservation to some degree, from cultivating our back gardens, to farming, to management of protected areas. Ex situ conservation should be seen as a complementary approach to in situ conservation and on the same spectrum. Kew's Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, comprising more than 120 plant science institutions in 50 countries, epitomizes this philosophy in action. We work actively on every seed collection we bank, finding out how useful it is and how we can grow it to enable human innovation, adaptation and resilience. Challenges remain at the policy level; for example, the need to factor-in the value of natural capital to development decision making, and better defining a role for public-sector science. At the technical level, also, there is much to do. Perhaps the greatest technical challenges relate to the restoration and management of complex, self-sustaining habitats or species assemblages. If we are to techno-garden effectively, in order to maintain ecosystem services and sustain biodiversity, then a multidisciplinary approach will be required. Many plant science institutions have recognized this and are becoming engaged increasingly in restoration activities and in situ management. Ultimately, humanity's ability to innovate and adapt is dependent on our having access to the full range of plant species and the alleles they contain.

Nocturnal ranging behaviour of urban hedgehogs, Erinaceus europaeus, in relation to risk and reward

Urban areas have both positive and negative influences on wildlife. For terrestrial mammals, one of the principal problems is the risk associated with moving through the environment while foraging. We examined nocturnal patterns of movement of urban-dwelling hedgehogs in relation to (1) the risks posed by predators and motor vehicles and (2) nightly weather patterns. Hedgehogs preferentially utilized the gardens of semidetached and terraced houses. However, females, but not males, avoided the larger back gardens of detached houses, which contain more of the habitat features selected by badgers. This difference in the avoidance of predation risk is probably associated with sex differences in breeding behaviour. Differences in nightly movement patterns were consistent with strategies associated with mating behaviour and the accumulation of fat reserves for hibernation. Hedgehogs also differed in behaviour associated with the risks posed by humans; they avoided actively foraging near roads and road verges, but did not avoid crossing roads per se. They were, however, significantly more active after midnight when there was a marked reduction in vehicle and foot traffic. In particular, responses to increased temperature, which is associated with increased abundance of invertebrate prey, were only observed after midnight. This variation in the timing of bouts of activity would reduce the risks associated with human activities. There were also profound differences in both area ranged and activity between years which warrant further investigation.

OIL CONTENT AND FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF CACTUS PEAR SEED COMPARED WITH COTTON AND GRAPE SEED

ABSTRACT Cactus pear is a drought tolerant crop with low agronomic requirements and high water use efficiency. The fruits contain a large number of seeds. The seed of 11 commercial cactus pear cultivars were analyzed for oil content and fatty acid composition. The oil content was relatively low, with a very low palmitic acid content of between 11.4 and 15.9%, considerably lower than that of cotton oil. Linoleic acid content varied between 61.4 and 68.9%. The α-linolenic acid of all the cultivars was less than 1%. The oleic acid content varied between 12.4 and 16.5% (lower than that of cotton seed). Unsaturated fatty acids made up about 80% of all fatty acids. Therefore, although the oil content of the seed was relatively low, the fatty acid composition indicates that it has potential as an oil for the health market. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Cactus pear cultivation is on the increase in South Africa. Cactus pear is often grown in back gardens and by subsistence farmers. It can be grown in marginal conditions, with a minimum input cost. Fruits are used for human consumption, but markets are not always accessible for small-scale farmers. If the oil is suitable and has a healthy profile for human consumption, a niche market can be created for the oil. This could benefit these growers and could compete with other niche market products such as grape seed oil.

Does variation in garden characteristics influence the conservation of birds in suburbia?

Can enhancement of garden habitat for native birds have conservation benefits, or are garden bird assemblages determined by landscape and environmental characteristics? The relative roles of vegetation structure, floristics and other garden attributes, and environmental and landscape controls, on the abundance and richness of bird species in 214 back or front gardens in 10 suburbs of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, are addressed to answer this question. Birds were counted in each garden and the resources they utilized noted. Vascular plant species and other attributes of the garden were noted, along with rainfall, altitude, distance from natural vegetation, distance from the city and garden size. Garden floristics and bird assemblages were ordinated, and garden groups characterized by particular assemblages of birds identified. General linear modelling was used to determine the combinations of independent variables that best predicted the richness of birds and the abundance of individual bird species and groups of species. The models for bird richness, bird species and groups of bird species were highly individualistic. Although native birds showed a preference for native plants, they also utilized many exotic plants. Exotic birds largely utilized exotic plants. Variation in garden characteristics does substantially affect the nature of garden bird assemblages in Hobart, with weaker environmental and landscape influences. The fact that gardens can be designed and managed to favour particular species and species assemblages gives gardeners a potentially substantial role in the conservation of urban native avifauna.

The May of Teck Club

Long ago in 1945 all the nice people in England were poor, allowing for exceptions. The streets of the cities were lined with buildings in bad repair or in no repair at all, bomb-sites piled with stony rubble, houses like giant teeth in which decay had been drilled out, leaving only the cavity. Some bomb-ripped buildings looked like the ruins of ancient castles until, at a closer view, the wallpapers of various quite normal rooms would be visible, room above room, exposed, as on a stage, with one wall missing; sometimes a lavatory chain would dangle over nothing from a fourthor fifth-floor ceiling; most of all the staircases survived, like a new artform, leading up and up to an unspecified destination that made unusual demands on the mind's eye. All the nice people were poor; at least, that was a general axiom, the best of the rich being poor in spirit. There was absolutely no point in feeling depressed about the scene, it would have been like feeling depressed about the Grand Canyon or some event of the earth outside everybody's scope. People continued to exchange assurances of depressed feelings about the weather or the news, or the Albert Memorial which had not been hit, not even shaken, by any bomb from first to last. The May of Teck Club stood obliquely opposite the site of the Memorial, in one of a row of tall houses which had endured, but barely; some bombs had dropped nearby, and in a few back gardens, leaving the buildings cracked on the outside and shakily hinged within, but habitable for the time being. The shattered windows had been replaced with new glass rattling in loose frames. More recently, the bituminous black-out paint had been removed from landing and bathroom windows. Windows were important in that year of final reckoning; they told at a glance whether a house was inhabited or not; and in the course of the past years they had accumulated much meaning, having been the main dangerzone between domestic life and the war going on outside: everyone had said, when the sirens sounded, 'Mind the windows. Keep away from the windows. Watch out for the glass.' To reread The Girls of Slender Means in 2003 is to appreciate the economy and brilliance of Spark's style. This was an innovative book in 1963 not that I knew that then and it still, today, flashes its own disguising Schiaparelli dress, with the beauty of youth pressed close against youth's bewilderment. Innocence is abruptly overturned in these pages, but Spark has structured her novel so that we realise we are about to be

Has Archaeology never been so much fun? Archaeology is rubbish. A beginner's guide By Tony Robinson and Mick Aston

This review is about the latest arrival in a series of Time Team books published by Channel 4. Like various other recent titles, Archaeology is Rubbish has not (and presumably could not have) been published on its own merits but is being sold on the back of a popular television series (see also SchadlaHall, 2003). The book begins with a reference to Lara Croft, heroine of the best-selling Tomb Raider computer garnes, which since 1995 have attracted over 4 million individual buyers, and spawned two feature films in 2001 and 2003, of which the first film grossed more than US$60 million during its first week of release alone. The book ends with a reference to Time Team, the ten-year-old British TV documentary series, watched every week by over 3 million people in the UK. Now read these figures again and begin to understand the dimensions of the public appeal of archaeology. Interestingly, Archaeology is Rubbish portrays the approaches of Lara Croft and Indiana Jones on the one hand, and Time Team excavations on the other, as very different, even oppositional. However, reading this 'beginner's guide' to archaeology actually demonstrated the opposite to me. What unites Tomb Raider, Raiders of the Lost Ark and British-style excavations as portrayed by Time Team is a common emphasis on archaeology as the process of finding and retrieving material treasures which is something people love following. Moreover, Lara and Indy are stereotypically confronted with elaborate booby traps when out hunting for glamorous artefacts in spectacular settings. Archaeology is Rubbish presents archaeological excavations in Britain as different mainly in the specific kinds of obstacles to be overcome and discoveries to be made. Yet the overall narrative appears to be similar to that of the archaeological cliches so ubiquitous in popular culture. This book by 'the nation's favourite archaeologists' (from the associated press release) tells the story of a fantasy dig that readers are invited to undertake in their back gardens. Their small trenches are jeopardised not only by 'a dull, humourless individual who's never shown the slightest interest in anything cultural or historical' (p.84) and owns the land where you would like to dig, but also by real threats of having to deal with lawyers and insurance companies (pp.8-9) and a lack of adequate funding for both the local conservation laboratory (p.ll 0) and the desired bone analysis (p.ll?). When the professional diggers arrive, their work, too, proceeds in real hardship as they are 'incredibly poorly paid' (p.132, see also pp.5 and 189) and have to drink 'cheap instant coffee ... out of chipped mugs' (p.136). To make matters even worse, they have to work under constant pressure from both developers and their own employers who want to see them finish their projects quickly in order to earn more money and spend less. But what is all this compared with bringing 'back to life the story of your ancestors' (p.9)? Robinson and Aston insist that whereas 'one golden chariot is pretty much like another', who would not be prepared to make real sacrifices to find dust on a floor that 'can tell

Light up the Sky: Halloween Bonfires and Cultural Hegemony in Northern Ireland

Large-scale, fire-based public events are a staple feature of traditional celebratory life in Northern Ireland. Bonfires are connected to a large variety of different festivals and celebrations (Gailey 1977; cf. Newall 1972). For example, bonfires associated with the victory of William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne are burned in July, and bonfires are used by various members of the population to mark diverse events such as the anniversaries of the relief of Derry, the enactment of the internment laws, and the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Effigies of unpopular people or representations of unpopular ideas are frequently immolated ritually on these bonfires. Effigies are also set afire on their own, distinct from bonfires per se. The annual burning of Lundy in Derry in December is one such occasion; a festive event that involves parades, bands, and public drinking, which is centered around the dramatic burning of the fifteen-foot figure. Along with the above-named events, bonfires are very much a part of Halloween as well, as are fireworks. There is, I believe, a thread of connections that links effigy burnings, fireworks, and other fire customs that allows us to look at them within the same analytical framework (see for instance Cressy 1989:88). This thread is frequently recognized by the Northern Irish people themselves. Effigies, as mentioned, might be burnt on bonfires or might be the basis of their own public fires. While neither bonfires nor fireworks displays are always part of Halloween festivities (the bonfire tradition is highly localized, within both rural and urban areas), the ways in which these customs are enacted imply that people recognize at least a metonymic relationship between the two. For instance, family fireworks displays are often constructed next to Halloween bonfires. The relationship can be seen also as metaphoric: I have on several occasions overheard people identify the sparks flying heavenward from the fire as the probable inspiration for manufactured fireworks. Sometimes boys load the bonfires with bangers for the thrill of hearing them explode as the fire roars, thus joining the two traditions into one. Michael McCaughan told me in 1991 that one of his outstanding Halloween memories concerned getting bulrushes and soaking them in parafin to make large torches, theoretically to light the bonfires, he said, but we quite liked the torches. Fire is a constant of traditional life in Northern Ireland, and it is specifically an important component of Halloween. Nevertheless, bonfires are not always a part of Halloween proceedings. Like other customs, the tradition varies from place to place and region to region (see Gailey 1977). However, even when bonfires are present at Halloween festivities, I found that the interpretations of their meaning varied immensely. Likewise, fireworks displays in back or front gardens were also interpreted in varying and often conflicting ways. While many Halloween customs differ from locality to locality, what I find more interesting are the varying interpretations of the same custom, or as in this case what I will approach as a bundle of related customs (see Charsely 1987; Handelman 1990). The relationships of these customs has to do in part with the particular history and ethnic settlement of Ulster. In this article I am interested in the multiple interpretations of Halloween customs having to do with fireworks and fire displays, in the context of the interrelationships of ethnic groups in Northern Ireland. By ethnic group here I am refering to Roman Catholics and Protestants generally without noting the very real cultural differences among Protestant denominations (for religious groups as ethnic groups, see Buckley and Kenney 1995). Generally it is said that members of these various Protestant denominations, such as Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, and Free Presbyterian, are united in their wish to retain the union with Great Britain rather than join the Republic of Ireland; that is, they are unionists rather than nationalists despite other differences of identity such as Scottish or English national background. …

Cupitt's Context

One of the characteristics of western middle class men and women in the latter half of the twentieth century is a form of quiet cynicism. We do not wish to give credence to anyone else any longer. We have shut the door to those who would give us dreams of a better world, and are usually quite happy, even at times quite determined, to dig our own back gardens. We have, in fact, seen the rise and fall of too many heavenly cities for us to wish to build any more. Fanaticism of any kind is definitely a non-starter. One might have thought that this insularity was a particularly English disease brought about by loss of empire and the apparent failure of post-war social optimism, but it is also a disease of each western nation. It is often codified into political form by the new right or into religious form by the moral majority, but it derives, essentially, from a form of quiet, despairing selfprotectionism, resignation; a belief, if it can be adorned with that word, that nothing very much more can be done. All that can be done now, it is felt, is that people should cultivate their own situation. Religion is therefore understood as that which reinforces the sense of the individual’s importance in the face of social and cosmic collapse. The church is the last refuge for those suffering from anomie, and faith gives the individual hope in the face of darkness. Church study groups, when asked what signs of hope there are in the world, answer that there are none, apart, perhaps, from the odd place like Iona or Taize which the middle classes treat like tourist attractions rather than a places for renewal.