THE growing popularity of gardening is helping to give wildlife a big boost, an expert has said.

East Lancashire is seeing more and more people planting, sowing, pruning and digging, turning urban gardens into havens for wildlife.

And it is is not just gardens that are getting more attention, some councils in the region, such as Hyndburn and Pendle, have sizeable waiting lists for allotments patches.

Dave Anderson, coordinator of the East Lancashire Bat Group and curator of natural history at Towneley Hall, said the increase in gardening popularity was making outdoor spaces more accessible and welcoming to the natural world.

He said: “People are taking more of an interest and gardens now often support more biodiversity.”

He said this was due to countryside management and more intensive farming, which was affecting habitats and making it more difficult for wildlife to create their homes.

Species doing particularly well off the back of the increasing popularity of gardening are those which can easily adapt to a more urban lifestyle.

More and more birds like blue tits, gray tits and finches are being seen coming into people’s gardens as more bird boxes are put up.

Mr Anderson said wildlife programmes like Spring Watch and Planet Earth Live were rekindling people’s passion for nature and that gardening was becoming a favourite hobby of people in East Lancashire once again.

He said: “There was a refocusing of wildlife television several years ago.People are enjoying the programmes and they have helped show them what is on their doorstep.

“Nature has become fashionable again.

“In the last century it was incredibly popular and it was seen as a healthy thing to do in the outdoors. In East Lancashire it declined in popularity around about the time of the war but now there are more people interested in wildlife issues again.

“We would definitely encourage more people to do it, it is fantastic and it can make a massive difference.”