Helping GARDEN WILDLIFE

Here's some inspiration for how to transform your garden into a haven for wildlife and the nature on your doorstep. These fall into the four main themes:

Food

• Bird feeders are a great way to attract birds to your garden. Most feeders and seed mixes will attract the same type of bird so by using a variety (e.g. fat balls for woodpeckers or niger seeds in feeders with narrow slots for finches) will see a wider range of species. Please ensure you regularly clean feeders to prevent spreading disease. The latest RSPB advice is to pause seed and peanut feeding from 1 May to 31 October.
• Plants and wildflowers will attract bumblebees, butterflies, moths, hoverflies and solitary bees to your garden. Choose a variety and plant in groups. Plants rich in seeds and fruits (like Teasels, Sunflowers, Knapweed, Hawthorn and Dog Rose) will also help feed the birds naturally. Pollinators are vital for a healthy ecosystem and providing important nectar sources will help to reverse their decline.
• Dead wood, in the form of branches, logs or cut stems from existing garden plants, will help feed invertebrates and fungi that are important for soil health. Why not build a 'bug snug' or a dead hedge.

Water

• An often overlooked resource in gardens and sometimes more scarce than food for many species. Bird baths are frequented by bathing birds to keep themselves clean but it is important that you also keep the bird bath clean to avoid spreading disease. Adding a few pebbles to the bath means they can also be used by bees without drowning. Shallow bowls of water are very important for hedgehogs, particularly in dry weather.
• Wildlife ponds come in many sizes (from custom build ones with pond liner to a sunken bucket) and will be used by amphibians, dragonflies, damselflies and other insects. Just remember to provide an easy access into and out of the pond so animals can get out if they need to.

Shelter

•  Trees and shrubs are the perfect refuge for birds to hide from predators (natural or domestic ones). The shade that trees provide are not only a welcome respite from the sun during hot days for us but they do the same for the animals we share the outdoors with.
• Too often are cuttings and leaves removed from our gardens. Having piles of logs, leaves and rocks in a quiet corner of your garden provides perfect shelter for small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates. 

Place to breed

• Nest boxes (best facing north or east) encourage birds to breed in our gardens. Try and include a few for different species. Specially built boxes for swallows and swifts can also help these rapidly declining species.
• Bat boxes (best facing south) serve the same purpose. Bats can live up to 30 years but only have 1 pup per year so are highly affected by changes in roost availability. Boxes attached to your home or even an integrated bat brick provide an important home.
• Insect hotels can be made of anything from dead bamboo sticks to pine cones which provide small nooks and crevices or solitary bees as they pollinate your flowerbed. These come in a range of shapes and sizes to best fit your garden size and style or build your own from waste materials.
• Hedgehog homes can provide vital nesting sites for our urban hedgehogs. These can be coupled with hedgehog holes in your garden boundaries to allow them to move around the environment in search of food.