It’s all thanks to the work BASF has been doing with Derbyshire Ecological Services (DES), a consultancy we launched to help companies and businesses across the county take advantage of our specialist knowledge and services.
BASF products are used by most industries across the world. The company has nine production sites in the UK, but the polyurethane solutions site at Somercotes near Alfreton is now their leading wildlife location.
When our ecological services team first surveyed the BASF grounds in Somercotes, it was a typical industrial space managed for convenience – the grass was cut short, many areas were covered in tarmac, and the trees were poorly managed. Working with BASF’s environmental improvement group, we all came up with a plan which would vastly improve the benefits to local wildlife; allowing more of the grass to grow and building raised wildflower beds, installing a pond, nest boxes and bat boxes, and planting a hedgerow of native species and trees that will screen the factory as well as providing a wildlife corridor and food source. It took just two days for great tits to move into one of the nest boxes next to the security office!
