Ian Waddington was crouched in his garden last summer, inspecting loose paving, when he lifted a slab and spotted something extraordinary: a tiny field mouse nestled in a hollow, feeding four babies \u2013 each half the size of his little finger. \u201cIt was astonishing. Like life in miniature,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
After decades in the construction industry, the 86-year-old has found a new passion in retirement \u2013 nature. The discovery of the field mice made him realise his garden could be a thriving habitat for animal and plant life. This year, Waddington joined the No Mow May<\/a> movement and allowed his garden grow wild through spring.<\/p>\n Now in its ninth year, No Mow May \u2013 run by the charity Plantlife \u2013 encourages people to stop mowing their lawns during the first month of spring to allow their gardens to become more biodiverse.<\/p>\n In the Cheshire<\/a> village of Tattenhall, many others have taken part over the years, connecting with nature through their back gardens. Janet Dutton, 69, let her lawn grow wild while caring for her sick partner. Today, aside from a central mown patch for her grandchildren, her garden has become a miniature meadow. \u201cThe more it [it grows], the more addicted I get to it \u2013 I just like to see what comes up,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Tattenhall in Cheshire, where residents are preparing for this year\u2019s No Mow May, Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The GuardianMany villagers have given over patches of former lawns to wildflowers and natural plants. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The GuardianDuring No Mow May, natural plants are left all year or cut at the end of the flowering season. Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Dutton credits No Mow May with changing her perspective on what a garden should be. She has even entered her garden into a new intervillage \u201cbest for nature award\u201d judged by Plantlife ecologists, and says she would be \u201cchuffed\u201d to win.<\/p>\n According to Andy Jennings-Giles, a senior ecologist at Plantlife, plenty of seeds can live underground, waiting for their chance to flower, in even the most keenly mown gardens. \u201cThe year that you leave it to grow throughout May, June and July, it will all come up. [You will] suddenly see all these flowers that appear from nowhere,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n