Every garden counts! Dutch 'National Park Every Garden'

Every garden counts! In the Netherlands' new, largest nature park: the 'National Park All Gardens'.

The Netherlands has 4.5 million gardens whose combined surface area is more than ten times the size of Het Nationale Park De Hoge Veluwe. Together, our gardens make up the largest nature reserve in the Netherlands: National Park All Gardens! And that makes every garden owner a nature manager. What is the state of species diversity in our own backyards?

In the month of July, the NTR science programme Focus will inspire people to contribute to biodiversity in the Netherlands. We will do this with four episodes in the Podcast Focus presented by Lara Billie Rense (online from 30 June). Together with the public, we will go exploring in this brand-new National Park: will we succeed in counting 5,000 different species of wild plants and animals in the month of July? In cooperation with the Land Registry and the free app ObsIdentify from Waarneming.nl, we will take up this challenge with a BioBlitz, an official count.

You can increase biodiversity in your own garden with simple interventions.

The reason for the project is the documentary My Garden of a Thousand Bees. British wildlife filmmaker Martin Dohrn decided to use his equipment to capture the life of bees in his backyard during the corona time lockdown. Now he finally had the time to zoom in on insect life in his own garden. He captured more than 60 species and was even able to 'portray' bees at an individual level.

Do nothing
In the series of four episodes in Podcast Focus, including documentary maker Martin Dohrn, you can hear how to create such a green Valhalla. Biodiversity is under pressure. And it is then good to know that with simple interventions in your own garden - but also on your own balcony - you can invite a lot of wild plants and animals. With scientists, garden experts and micro-park managers, we explore the hidden riches in the small corners of our new National Park. How did they create this natural haven? What does diverse life need, what are the do's and don'ts? Often it is a matter of doing just the right thing not to.

The largest species census ever in the Netherlands

The Land Registry also thinks our species richness is important and is happy to cooperate in declaring this largest nature park in the Netherlands. They literally put National Park All Gardens on the map with their GIS data. Together with Waarneming.nl and their app Obsidentify, we take up the challenge: Will the public together manage to observe 5,000 different species of wild plants and animals during a month? The kick-off of this biggest ever BioBlitz will be on Vroege Vogels Radio (30 June).

• The podcast Every garden counts! can be heard in Podcast Focus from 30 June via the free NPO Listen app and other podcast platforms. Reporting: Erik den Boer, Omar Diab and Marloes van de Wakker. Host: Lara Billie Rense
• The documentary My Garden of a Thousand Bees can be seen on Wednesday 7 August, 20:35 on NPO 2 and then for a week on NPO Start, and 9 months on NPO Plus.
• Mátyás Bittenbinder answers on YouTube and Instagram @ntrscience the most frequently asked questions about life in your garden from 3 July
• The BioBlitz in National Park All Gardens can be found at nl
• All links and info and how the count is doing can be seen at ntr.nl/iederetuintelt