In early 2024, The Deep were awarded £6,000 from The Nature Hubs Fund, an initiative that aims to widen community access to green spaces. The grants, awarded by environmental charity Hubbub and funded by Starbucks, have been allocated to community groups and projects that will upskill communities, bring people together in nature and build climate resilience. Our Nature Hubs project involved the re-purposing of an underutilised area of our car park, which was previously covered with gravel, and a limited number of non-native trees and bushes. The goal was to transform this space into a richly planted bog garden and stumpery; this has been made possible thanks to local community help and kind donations from members of the public, including the donation of logs to make up the biodiverse stumpery.
Thanks to the help of local environmental charity, Mires Beck Nursery, The Deep received a number of wetland and shade-loving plants to be planted into the bog garden. These had been grown and potted by the kind volunteers at Mires Beck Nursery, and were then planted in the bog garden by The Deep’s Crew. It is hoped that by the strategic planting of native flora, native fauna will be encouraged to grow and serve to increase the habitat heterogeneity of the area. In turn, this will help to promote species diversity and act as a ‘stepping stone’ habitat, to allow native species to move between the fragmented habitats found within surrounding urban areas.
Throughout the project, Deep Crew have had the opportunity to volunteer in an enriching experience which is outside the scope of their usual roles and has helped bring numerous members of the team closer to nature. As research has shown that spending time around nature is beneficial for both physical and mental health, it’s important that as many people as possible have the chance to enjoy the new green space.
The Nature Hubs scheme is funded by Starbucks and is part of Hubbub and Starbucks' wider ambition to build stronger, greener communities across the UK. The fund aims to improve access and connection to nature in the communities Starbucks serves, by creating green spaces within a 5km radius of Starbucks stores.
If you are visiting us or even just passing by, you can help us by recording any wildlife sightings you come across in our bog garden via the iNaturalist app. Your observations will contribute to a huge, worldwide nature information database, as well as helping The Deep build a bigger picture of biodiversity around our site.