How to make your garden Wildlife Friendly

Big is not always best. It's sometimes better to do small things that can be maintained rather than build a zoo and then lose interest.

if space is limited setting aside even a small area of your garden will attract our native wildlife. Even a single Buddleia tree (butterfly tree) will attract butterflies.

• If the garden is small and space is limited you can still create wildlife friendly areas. Even a bog area if you have a soggy bit of garden. Wildlife will appreciate and be attracted to even the smallest things, like a Buddleia (butterfly) tree to attract, butterflies.
• Small wildlife friendly features like woodpiles, nesting boxes and rockeries will help sustain and attract wildlife into your garden.
• Or if you have the space to set aside a larger area of your garden then, create a Hay meadow or wildflower lawn, my article here explains how,  growing a wildflower lawn   

Whatever the size.... If you create a wildlife friendly garden.... Wildlife will come. 

Growing a native hedge or copse of berry and nut producing trees is a really great way of attracting wildlife into a garden. I have explained, what, how and the hedging plants you can plant from October through to March here  Native British hedgerow.

Grow a wildlife friendly herbaceous border, perennial plants flower each year so they're easy to tend and are great for attracting wildlife. Plants we weed out of our prim and proper borders, like Forget-me-nots, Buttercups and Ox-eye daisies are pretty and great for wildlife.

Early spring bulbs like bluebells (our native ones) lesser celandine, wild daffodils and snakeshead fritillary all produce nectar for insects when food is still scarce in spring. Borage and clover (the same clover we try to weed kill from our chemical dependent lawns) are great for bumblebees. Cowslip, cranesbill, foxglove, poppy and cornflower all produce nectar and are pretty wildlife friendly plants.

Create a hedgehog house or shelter. Hedgehog houses are simple to make. Piling stones, earth or wood  over a sturdy upturned crate leaving just enough space for the hedgehogs to get in and out should be enough to encourage habitation.                                         

Site the nest box against a wall, bank or fence in a quiet overgrown area of your garden so the hedgehogs can forage nearby with protective cover. Try not to disturb the nest once it's occupied, as a frightened mother hedgehog may abandon her young. Hedgehogs will often also choose their own space in a hedgehog-friendly garden to shelter and.... hopefully even breed, under  sheds or hedges, log piles and compost heaps.

Pet dogs, badgers and foxes are the hedgehogs biggest enemy so make sure that your hedgehog box is sturdy. Hedgehogs are great little natural pest controllers eating slugs and snails found in damp, grassy areas of the garden. Slug pellets and other garden chemicals are harmful to hedgehogs so avoid using them and instead leave it to your hedgehogs to keep slugs and snails under control for you.

Building a rockery will attract wildlife, even a small pile of stones attracts insects and in turn the wildlife that feed on them. A rockery made from garden stones and old house bricks will make a great shelter for insects. Insects like Spiders, Woodlice and beetles that add to the biodiversity of your wildlife garden.

A rockery will also encourage the animals that feed on them to hang around during winter. Even providing shelter for slugs and snails is worth doing as thrushes and hedgehogs will feed on them.

The stones should be arranged loosely, leaving cracks and gaps for insects to get in between them. For larger rockeries, fill some gaps with gritty soil and plant crocuses and natural British Bluebells between the rocks. This will provide insects with an early nectar and pollen supply.

To speed up the look of aging on the stones.  Brush them with yogurt, this encourage lichens to grow making the rockery even more natural.

If possible, build the rockery near to a nature pond, even a small one and use larger pieces of stone or rocks to create nooks and crannies. Newts and frogs will shelter and hibernate in the cool, damp crevices and toads may hibernate in burrows under the rocks. Slow worms may hide under the rocks and stones until dusk when they come out to hunt however, they do seem happiest in my compost heap.

Make a woodpile it will attract and provide shelter for insects and they in turn will attract insect eating wildlife into your wildlife garden. To make a woodpile select a moist shady area under large shrubs or trees. Pile logs and dead branches one and leave the wood to decay naturally.

Many insects like Ground and Rove beetles eat both adults and slug eggs and prefer undisturbed damp shady areas. The insect eating animals that in turn live of the insects will visit the area too, just wait and see. The Woodpile is best left undisturbed because Stag beetles larvae will live in this wood for several years until they reach maturity.

• Blue tits, coal tits and marsh tits about 25mm across.
• Great tits, nuthatches, house sparrows and tree sparrows, slightly bigger about 32mm.
• Robins, wrens and pied wagtails prefer open fronted boxes, but these can be vulnerable to attack by cats so put them somewhere safe.
• House martins: use nest bowls, large 3/4 coconut shell works.
• Starlings like a long deep box with a hole near the roof.
• Sparrows nest close to each other in communal boxes, the box has three compartments with a hole just under the lid at each side and in the centre. They will also nest in the roof of your house. 

Toward the bottom of this page there is more information about the best place to position nest boxes and how to look after them.

A wildlife pond can be a haven for wildlife.  Frogs, toads, newts, leeches and boatmen will live and breed in a wildlife pond providing the environment is right.

Frogs, toads and newts, can be beneficial garden creatures eating a wide range of garden pests and can be encouraged by providing log piles and other damp habitats in which they can shelter and a wildlife friendly pond where tadpoles can develop. A pond, even a container pond is one of the most wildlife friendly things you can do in your garden. 

I have written this guide to make a wildlife pond.