Floating garden offers safe haven for wildlife

It is hoped the biodegradable coir rolls and their plants will attract more insects and wildlife to the canal basin

Floating bogs are being used to help transform a once heavily polluted stretch of canal into a garden haven for wildlife.

Coir rolls, which are derived from the husk of coconuts, have been used by volunteers from the Canal & River Trust to line the sides of the old Bradford Canal basin, near Shipley, in the hope of attracting more birds, insects and aquatic creatures.

The biodegradable rolls are made from coir netting filled with coir fibre and are planted with a variety of species that support pollinators and other native wildlife.

Rachel Clapham, from the trust, said: "We've already spotted a kingfisher, dragonflies and frogs enjoying the bog."

Bradford Canal was only three miles (5km) long when it officially opened in 1774.

Volunteers lower one of the coir coils, which are made out of coconut fibre and are biodegradable, into the water

It closed in 1922 and only a small section remains where the Bradford Canal meets the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in Shipley at the old canal basin.

Ms Clapham, the charity's lead volunteer who runs the Garden Party: Leeds & Liverpool East Horticultural Team which carried out the bog work, said: "It's great to see how even small interventions like this can make a big difference to local biodiversity."

A wide variety of wildlife including kingfishers have been spotted using the basin

Alice Quinn, a volunteer leader at the Canal & River Trust, said she welcomed the chance "to make the canal basin a more attractive place for the local community to visit and enjoy".

"As a charity we're so grateful to Shipley Town Council's Green Grant money to help us provide valuable habitats for wildlife," she added.

Ms Clapham praised the work of all the volunteers in the project and said the charity was "always looking for more people to help".

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