LOCAL charity Wildlife Friendly Otley is excited to announce the winners in its new competition for the most wildlife friendly garden in the town.

The charity came up with the idea for the competition because of a biodiversity audit of Otley commissioned by Otley Town Council in 2023. The audit highlighted how vital gardens are for providing corridors and habitats for wildlife. The hope is that this competition will help improve and develop them for the benefit of the natural world.

With several categories everyone will had a chance to showcase and contribute to this great competition. The categories were as follows: best window box, backyard, garden, ginnel/cut through and best street.

River Six who is Co-Chair at the charity said: "Gardens are a lifeline for nature. Loss of habitats has meant that we are rapidly losing our wildlife. A few simple changes in our gardens, or any other area that we may have, does make a huge difference in providing the natural corridors our wildlife so desperately needs. This competition has given us the privilege of seeing some amazing gardens which are clearly doing this and hopefully we can encourage others to do the same."

Kindly sponsored by Courtyard Planters, Otley in Bloom, Otley Garden Centre and Otley Town Council the competition was a great success with the winners shown below.

Co-winners of the most wildlife friendly courtyard garden were Danny Hudson and Ruth Smalley. The most wildlife friendly garden went to Alex Doughty. The most wildlife friendly street was Claro Mews for creating a beautiful north to south wildflower meadow corridor. Finally, the most wildlife friendly ginnel/cut through was the back of Danefield Terrace which whilst being impassable for humans, is perfect for wildlife.