Electricity firm goes green for day supporting Croydon’s biodiversity

By Kelsey McCabe

Volunteers from an electricity firm spent a day tending the land around one of its substations to encourage biodiversity and attract wildlife.

Fifteen of UK Power Networks’ employees used one of their annual paid volunteer days to clear invasive holly and laurel undergrowth, remove litter, and install bird boxes near one of the firm’s substations in Croydon, with the goal of improving the quality of the chalk grassland in the area and preserving the habitat.

Mathew Frith, director of policy and research at London Wildlife Trust, said: “This part of Croydon supports fantastic biodiversity on chalk grassland and woodland habitats, but without management, the chalk grassland can lose its value through encroachment from some shrubs such as cherry laurel.”

The volunteer work was conducted under UK Power Networks’ Donate a Day plan, which offers employees two paid volunteer days a year to give back to their community.

The volunteers began by creating chalk scrapes – open areas of land that provide room for quality vegetation growth. They then populated the open land with a native seed mix that included wild basil, oxeye daisy, and wild marjoram.

Volunteers also stacked wood and dead hedges to attract wildlife and installed bird boxes suitable for native bird species, including Eurasian blue tits and robins.

Joanna Collinson, risk and assurance advisor at UK Power Networks: “It was very rewarding to use one of the donate-a-day to improve biodiversity on one of our sites, as nature and wider environmental issues are important to us and there are increased concerns about sustainability and wildlife.

“Our team also benefited greatly, a day with nature and working as a team brought us closer together and we have had many laughs and lots of fun throughout the day.”

Pictured top: UK Power Networks employees at a St. Nicholas Hospice car park clean up for a previous Donate a Day event (Picture: Barney Riley)