Although not all of us are lucky enough to have a garden, those that do can play a significant role in combatting biodiversity and habitat loss in the UK. Just under 5% of land in England is classed as residential garden. This may not sound much, but that equates to around six and a half square kilometres, and more than all of England’s nature reserves combined. As such, if we make sure our gardens are wildlife-friendly, they can act as proxy nature reserves. They can also act as vital corridors for wildlife moving between fragmented habitats to feed or breed. Not all gardens are equal, however, when it comes to being beneficial to wildlife. So, with National Garden Wildlife Week coming up at the end of May, how can we garden for wildlife and help nature?
1. Keep Some Messy Areas
One of the simplest, cheapest and most effective things we can do for wildlife in our gardens is to do less tidying, pruning and mowing. Over-manicured spaces lead to much lower levels of biodiversity all round, from plants and insects to birds and mammals. This doesn’t mean letting your garden get completely overgrown. There can be neater areas, as well. The key to is to make sure that at least some space is left to do its own thing most of the time. Initiatives such as Plantlife’s No Mow May are a great way to get started. This campaign urges us to let our lawns stay unmown for the month of May and encourage a greater range of plants to grow. This is vital for our struggling pollinators. As reported in our April news round-up, just letting your grass grow can increase butterfly abundance by up to 93%. Why not carry on beyond May, though? A good idea to stop things getting too wild is to lightly mow a couple of areas two or three times a year and then leave the rest for an annual strim.
As well as doing less mowing, leaving piles of leaves, branches and/or stones in various places is also beneficial for wildlife. These provide valuable refuges for a range of invertebrates, plus amphibians, reptiles and small mammals. As well as offering safe resting or hibernation spots, they offer somewhere cool and shaded, something that is becoming increasingly important in our warming world. A host of invertebrates, including many ladybird species, overwinter in dead seedheads so if you can leave some of these unpruned in autumn, do. Despite its bad reputation, ivy is hugely beneficial to wildlife, as well. If you have any growing in your garden, leave it intact if possible. Its late flowers provide vital food for pollinators long after most after plants have stopped flowering. Thrushes and wintering blackcaps eat the fruit, and the dense coverage offers shelter all year round for invertebrates, birds and bats.
2. Plant for Pollinators
Buglife’s Bugs Matter citizen science project recorded a 78% decline in the UK’s flying insects between 2004 and 2023. This shows it is clear we need to help our struggling invertebrate species. Another way to do this, alongside leaving messy garden areas, is to think carefully about our planting choices. Native plants should be prioritised over non-natives. This is because our pollinators have evolved in tandem with native plant species for millennia. They often have specially adapted features, such as a long tongue, for example, to help them get at nectar within certain shaped plants. Non-native plants may have the ‘wrong’ shaped flowers, making it difficult for insects to easily access food.
Try and plant a variety of species, as well. As touched on above, different insects are adapted to feed from different plants, so the bigger the range of plants, the more insects you cater for. If possible, select plants so that something is in flower every month of the year, from snowdrops in the winter through to autumn flowering wallflowers. This means there is food for insects flying in different seasons. Many of our native moths feed on trees such as hawthorn and birch so you can help them by planting trees and/or shrubs if you have the space. You can also help moths by planting night-scented flowers including honeysuckle and evening primrose.
3. Feed the Birds
A huge number of people in the UK feed their garden birds and, as long as it is done carefully, it has substantial benefits, especially during the winter. Birds will always look to find food from a range of sources, so you don’t need to worry that they will become too reliant on supplementary feeding. It can, though, mean the difference between a bird surviving a harsh spell or not. This is particularly true in late winter when food in the wider countryside is exhausted but early spring buds haven’t yet appeared. Extra food in spring and summer also helps parents feed their young. Many species feed their chicks protein-rich invertebrates, even if they eat seeds and fruit the rest of the year. But with huge insect declines over the last 20 years in the UK (see above), this food source is harder to find. As such, mealworms (if kept off the ground; see Help for Hedgehogs below) are a great addition to your usual feeding routines in spring and summer.
It is important to remember some keys points, however. ALWAYS keep your feeders clean by washing them in warm, soapy water every two weeks or so. Avoid using flat tables and feeding trays, as well. This reduces the spread of diseases such as trichomonosis, thought to be a major factor in recent greenfinch declines. Likewise, although you should always provide water, make sure to keep any bird baths or dishes clean, too. Avoid putting out starchy, nutrient poor foods such as white bread or rice. And during the nesting season avoid putting out peanuts as chicks can easily choke on them. Use squirrel-proof feeders, if necessary, to give the birds a chance of getting food. Finally, make sure you position feeders well. Keep them some distance away from hedges and fences so that cats can’t creep up on them unobserved.
4. Bird Boxes and Bug Hotels
Although it is too late for this year’s nesting season, why not install some bird boxes? Various styles, suitable for a range of species, are available. Some don’t even require a garden. House sparrow terraces and swift boxes can be attached to the side of a house, for example. Make sure they aren’t placed where they will be subject to prevailing winds or direct sunlight, however. More traditional bird boxes can be fixed to house walls or on sheds or trees, but make sure they aren’t near your feeders as too much activity can cause disturbance. Different sized entrances will attract different species, with the smallest good for blue and great tits, open-fronted ones good for spotted flycatchers. It is worth getting a bird box with a metal entrance protector to stop grey squirrels or great spotted woodpeckers enlarging the hole and accessing the chicks. Only take down and clean your bird boxes between September 1st and January 31st, the legally permitted period. It is a good idea to do plenty of research before installing anything. The BTO has lots more information, including how to make your own nest box.
Bug hotels, or refuges, are also a brilliant idea and can help a wide variety of invertebrates throughout the year. They provide temporary shelter from predators or weather conditions, as well as offering somewhere to overwinter for those species that do so. As with bird boxes, it is worth doing some research as some products on the market are actually fairly unattractive to invertebrates and a waste of money. Better still, as well as leaving the messy areas mentioned above, you can make your own. By incorporating different components, you can attract different groups of species. Sticks, stones, dried seedheads, pinecones, leaves, brick, bark and wood can all be used to stuff individual sections. It doesn’t even have to be that elaborate. A simple pile of sticks or a plant pot full of hollow stems will still provide valuable shelter.
5. Install a Water Feature
All your garden visitors will need water, either for drinking, washing or keeping themselves damp and cool. This means you can very quickly help wildlife by providing water. Bird baths help our feathered friends drink and wash. Make sure you don’t stop filling them in winter as they are just as important at this time. Keep it ice free by putting a tennis ball in to float. Butterflies also need to stay hydrated. Put a shallow dish filled with sand or gravel out and keep it well saturated to provide them with somewhere damp to land and hydrate. Container ponds, meanwhile, are great for small gardens or balconies.
If you have the space, and it is safe to do so, a pond is a brilliant way to help wildlife and attract more species to your garden. Frogs, toads, newts, dragonflies, water beetles and more could all turn up surprisingly quickly after installation. It will also provide drinking water for mammals such as hedgehogs and mice. One misconception about garden ponds is that they need to be deep. Most pond species actually prefer shallow water, certainly less than half a metre deep. You should make sure that at least one end has a sloping edge to allow any terrestrial creatures an escape route should they fall in. And ALWAYS make sure the pond is covered with netting if small children live with you or visit. The Freshwater Habitats Trust has some good advice on how to create a pond from scratch.
6. Help for Hedgehogs
As one of our most threatened mammals, hedgehogs need help in our gardens, too. The reasons for their decline aren’t entirely clear, but habitat loss and connectivity are likely to be key factors. One simple way to help them overcome connectivity issues is to provide easy access between gardens. Hedgehogs travel approximately a mile each night to find food and, during the breeding season, mates. Losing access to these areas due to impenetrable walls and fences is undoubtedly having an impact on their numbers. You will need to talk to your neighbours first, of course, but a simple gap somewhere in your fence means your local hogs can move about their territories more safely and easily. You could go even further and replace your fences with hedges, as long as your neighbours agree. The Hedgehog Street campaign has more information on fence gaps.
Hedgehogs eat a range of invertebrates including slugs, worms and beetles. As such, it is hugely beneficial if we stop using slug pellets and other pesticides in our gardens. If you decide to put out supplementary food, never put out milk and bread for hedgehogs. This provides them with no real benefits and can cause diarrhoea. Mealworms are also dangerous to hedgehogs, hence the need to keep bird food mealworms off the ground. When eaten in large quantities (which hedgehogs tend to do when they are available), mealworms can actually strip bones of calcium, leading to serious bone issues. Instead, use wet dog or cat food. Be sure to remove any uneaten food each morning. During summer, make sure you leave out a dish of water, as well. Messy leaf and branch piles, meanwhile, provide daytime shade as well as important hibernation sites. Always check any areas of long grass you plan to mow or strim for hedgehogs before starting. Strimmer injuries are one of the commonest that wildlife rescue centres see. If lighting bonfires in the autumn, be sure to check any leaf piles for hibernating animals before igniting.
Wildlife Gardening for Nature and Us
Our gardens are becoming increasingly important to wildlife. Agricultural intensification and habitat loss mean that gardens are acting as proxy nature reserves, providing the space, shelter and food that invertebrates, birds and animals need. Helping them doesn’t necessarily involve any real work or expenditure, either. Simply making the right decisions can have massive benefits. Choosing not to install artificial grass or to stop using pesticides and weed killers, for example, is completely free but instantly helps wildlife. Likewise leaving an area messy, unpruned or unmown most of the time has huge benefits. Those with the time or money to go further, can of course buy native plants, feeders, bird, bug or hedgehog houses or dig ponds.
Looking after our garden wildlife doesn’t just benefit nature, however. Research is increasingly showing just how much access to nature benefits both our physical and mental health. It reduces stress and anxiety, and people who regularly access nature report feeling happier overall. Having better mental wellbeing often leads to better physical health, too. This means that those of us lucky enough to have a garden have a head start. And by ensuring that garden is wildlife friendly rather than a paved over or artificially turfed nature-free zone, we can do wonders for both wildlife and us.