Helping GARDEN WILDLIFE

Below is an overview of the wildlife friendly additions you can have to make your garden a haven for nature on your doorstep. These fall into the four main themes stated above:

Food

• Bird feeders are a great way to attract birds (and the occasional squirrel) 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 ensure you see a wider range of species.
• Native plants and wildflowers will attract everything from bumblebees, butterflies, hoverflies and solitary bees to your garden. These pollinators are vital for a healthy ecosystem and providing important nectar sources will help to reverse their decline.
• Dead wood, in the form of wood chips, or even just branches and cut stems from existing garden plants, will help feed invertebrates and even fungi that are important for soil health.

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.
• Wildlife ponds come in many sizes (from custom build ones with pond liner to a sunken bucket) and will be used by amphibians, dragonflies 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 can provide the perfect shelter for small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates. 

Place to breed

• Nest boxes (best facing north or east) are a well used resource for many people to encourage birds to breed in our gardens. Shopping around for specially built boxes for swallows and swifts are also a worthwhile investment for 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.
• Hedgehog homes are becoming more popular with gardeners and are a vital home 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.