The Wildlife Garden

If you want to attract birds and butterflies and creatures such as frogs and hedgehogs you should think about creating a wildlife garden.  The basic requirements for any visitor to your garden are food, water and shelter.  You may also consider organising some of your planting schemes around this concept.

Keeping your garden free of harmful chemicals gives you a head start in attracting wildlife and with a little planning you can create a habitat that will that will welcome a diverse range of  creatures.  The visitors will repay you by helping to control the level of  problem-causing pests in your garden.

Encouraging natural cycles in your garden will promote biodiversity.  The more soil life there is, the more insects will come to feed on it.  Birds will come and feed on the insects, as will amphibians and mammals.  In this way, food webs will gradually recover in the absence of pesticides.  Much of the wildlife that thrives in a garden does so under the care of a gardener who is not unduly tidy.  The best wildlife gardens leave room for decay.  This approach involves piling up old logs and autumn leaves in a quiet shady corner to create a home for insects and hibernating hedgehogs.  Log piles can be overplanted with ivy to enhance their appearance and attractiveness to insects such as stag beetles.

Consider planting native trees, shrubs and flowers so that native creatures will have a familiar food source or nesting site.  Plant as many suitable flowers as possible to attract bees, butterflies and other insects that will enhance your wildlife garden.  Many beneficial species are attracted to a garden that is effectively a feeding station for them.  For the larger visitors, such as small mammals and birds, you can plant flowering and berrying trees and shrubs.

Ponds provide a rich habitat for a variety of wildlife.  Many familar creatures, such as frogs, toads, newts and dragonflies depend upon ponds to breed.  Many urban gardens have become havens for these creatures.  Even a small pool will provide somewhere that birds and other visitors can come to drink.  If you have no space for a pond, try introducing a suitable container that can be utilized as a drinking and bathing area for birds, mammals and insects.  An area of longer grass benefits butterflies, moths and many other insects by providing food and shelter.  Many of these insects will fall prey to songbirds and hedgehogs and thereby diversifying and enhancing the food web in the garden. 

The barriers and structures in your garden also provide very useful habitats.  Hedges are a wonderful habitat for all kinds of wildlife, where they can breed, feed and take shelter.  The hedges are easy to maintain and should only be cut once a year, in winter, to avoid interfering with spring and summer nesting birds.  Dry stone walls are another garden feature that can provide homes for hibernating amphibians, lizards, insects and bees.

A wildlife garden is often described as an oasis in an urban desert.  Town gardens play a vital role in protecting the health of the wider urban habitat, while rural gardens play a similar role in areas that have been affected by intensive farming.  Try putting up a few bird and bat nest boxes and providing nesting areas for insects and mammals.  The greater the year-round diversity, the more useful your garden will be.