Protect wildlife from light pollution with Philips Hue
Find out how to make your garden lighting bold and colourful, while caring for British wildlife
There’s nothing like relaxing in your garden as the sun sets and the stars start to appear. A well-lit garden is a joy, and means you can enjoy your outdoor space way into the night. However, gardens have a double life when darkness falls, playing host to a range of nocturnal creatures, which can be harmed by light pollution.
What is light pollution?
Light pollution is the artificial lighting of the night sky. It means that nocturnal animals can’t feed or mate as they would naturally. According to Danielle Robertson, Snowdonia National Park’s Dark Sky Officer, 98% of Britons are living under light polluted skies, and £1 billion a year is lost to inefficient lighting in the UK alone.
That’s why Philips Hue Smart lights are an excellent choice for your home and garden. With a whole range of colours and lights at your disposal, you can take full control of your environment from your phone.
Why is good lighting so important for your garden?
At least 60% of UK wildlife depends on natural darkness to survive. Like us, these animals evolved to respond to the cycles of the seasons and day and night. By using light inappropriately, we can inadvertently impact their ability to survive, disrupting their natural cycles of sleeping, hunting and breeding.
As an environmentally conscious brand, Philips Hue offers many ways to support the natural sleep cycle of wildlife, while still helping you to beautify your garden and keep your home safe.
How to choose your garden light
When choosing lighting for your garden, there are a few things to consider. Firstly, is it really needed? If the light isn’t going to have a purpose, then it’s best to do without.
If you need lighting, it’s time to think about brightness, colour and temperature.
● Brightness - The brighter the light, the worse the light pollution. The worse the light pollution, the worse the effect on nocturnal wildlife.
● Colour - Pure white light contains a lot of blue wavelengths. ‘Blue light’ artificially keeps us awake, and is emitted by most screens - it’s why it can be so hard to switch off the TV or your phone and get to sleep. This effect is also true for animals, which can be woken or kept awake by bright white light. It can also dazzle or even blind them. The best colour tones for outdoor spaces are ambers, yellows, oranges and reds. Red is particularly good if you’re lucky enough to be visited by bats.
● Temperature - Brightness and colour come together in temperature. This isn’t how hot the bulbs are, but a measure of the intensity and colour of light. Like heat, temperature is measured in Kelvin. For reference, 1000K is the brightness and hue of candlelight, and 4700k is the brightness of overhead fluorescents in an office. We recommend 2700K max to be used at night. This is not only best for bats, bugs and birds, but bathes your garden in a golden glow.
How does light pollution affect animals?
Ever heard the phrase ‘a deer in the headlights’? Deer stand still when they see headlights, not out of fear, but because their pupils are dilated for night vision. When they encounter the bright white light of headlights, their eyes are overloaded and they’re temporarily blinded. This same effect happens to other nocturnal and crepuscular (dawn and dusk) animals. It’s just one example of how light pollution affects the sensitive eyesight of nocturnal creatures, impairing their ability to feed, mate, and find shelter. However, this impact is lessened with darker, yellower shades of light. The Philips Hue outdoor lighting range gives you the flexibility to choose from over 50,000 shades of white light and golden tones, making sure you can easily select the right colour temperature to help out your garden visitors.
Light pollution is especially dangerous for insects. Moths are infamous for being drawn to bright lights, confusing them for the moon which they use to navigate. Unfortunately, this means insects flapping around bright lights and being fried on hot bulbs or starving. This is bad enough in itself but also has several dangerous knock-on effects. It means fewer insects pollinating your garden and wildflowers, and it means fewer insects becoming a crucial meal for bats, frogs or hedgehogs. If you want a splash of light in your flower beds but don’t want to disrupt pollinators, the Philips Hue Amarant (£129.99) is a great choice. It comes with a preset Savanna Sunset scene, and it's warm hues make your flower beds look beautiful without distracting pollinators so they can continue doing what comes naturally.
It’s also good to remember to switch off the lights when you go to bed, which will also save on your electricity bills. With the range of Philips Hue lights, you can also set limits on the colour temperature, brightness and duration that your lights will switch on at. What’s more, their daylight sensors make sure your lights won’t switch on during the day or when it’s too sunny which is great for the wildlife and your energy bills.