Industrial Biodiversity - attracting Birds, Bees and Butterflies

Situated in the heart of an industrial estate, our manufacturing site at Alfreton may seem an unlikely place to consider biodiversity.

Bee Orchids growing at our Alfreton site

BY EMMA GREGORY

Despite the industrial surrounds and with the support of expert organisations and dedicated employees, our BASF site at Alfreton, Derbyshire has been designated as a Local Wildlife Site by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.

According to the Wildlife Trust, Local Wildlife Sites are sites with ‘substantive nature conservation value’.

“Looking after our local environment is a key part of us being a responsible neighbour in the community,” explains Site Manager Nick Maybury. “I am so proud of the team here at Alfreton whose research, care and hard work has led to us receiving this prestigious status for our site.”

Volunteers working on a five-year plan

In 2017 BASF colleagues embarked on a five-year plan with the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to transform an often water-logged field, unsuitable for business use, for the benefit of the local environment. Having been told that there was a small enclave of rare butterflies in the vicinity of the site, the team worked with the Wildlife Trust to create a habitat which would assist future colonisation.

Diane Rodger, one of the BASF volunteers explains, “We have had a lot of success attracting butterflies including the Dingy Skipper, the Common Blue and the Small Copper.” By leaving the meadow to grow, plants such as Bee Orchid, Bird’s-foot Trefoil and Marsh Orchid have appeared. “The work we have done around the edges of the meadow, such as creating log stacks for insects and erecting bird and bat boxes, has meant that we have now created a vital ‘wildlife corridor’ for the area’s flora and fauna.”

What was originally a five-year plan will now continue.

Site Manager, Nick concludes, “To have our manufacturing site’s ecological features highlighted in the Wildlife Trust’s register is really beyond our wildest dreams. And it’s not just the wildlife that is benefitting. To be part of such a biodiverse site is incredibly positive for all of us who work here at BASF in Alfreton.”

The work will continue as the team looks to encourage a wildlife pond and they will share their experiences with local schools, customers and interested organisations.

Marsh Orchid in the site meadow

Common Blue at Alfreton site

Dingy Skipper is a welcome visitor

Published 19 May 2023

For media enquiries or to repurpose this article, please contact emma.gregory@basf.com