Wildlife gardening

Wildlife plays such an important role in our gardens, whether it’s bees pollinating our flowers or birds eating insect pests. Wildlife gardens are normally associated with leaving areas of the garden to neglect or growing wild flowers but this needn’t be the case! Many cultivated garden plants are just as valuable to wildlife for food and shelter. Read on for ideas on how to attract wildlife into your garden.

Why do we need garden wildlife?

We should all try and do our bit for biodiversity and the environment, and encouraging wildlife also benefits our own gardens. Bees and butterflies are important pollinators and play a key role in pollinating many of our fruits and vegetables.

Birds eat a variety of garden pests, including leatherjacket grubs, slugs, aphids and caterpillars. Hedgehogs, shrews, frogs and toads will also eat these insect pests and ladybirds and lacewings feed on aphids and blackfly – their young eat them in large quantities!

Top tips for a wildlife friendly garden

• Try not to use double-flowered plant varieties as bees and butterflies can’t access the flowers for pollen and nectar. Good plants for bees generally have simple flowers.

• Plant trees, shrubs and hedges as these are perfect for nesting and sheltering from predators.

• Try not to use pesticides as these will kill beneficial insects too. Give natural predators such as ladybirds, spiders, lacewings, frogs, birds and hedgehogs time to eat the pests before resorting to chemicals.

• Provide food sources all year round – bees are active between February and October and many birds remain in the UK throughout the winter. Put out bird feeders during the winter months to help birds out.

• Install a pond if you have the space. This will encourage frogs, toads, newts and dragonflies to visit your garden. Small mammals and birds will also benefit from the water supply.

• Leave piles of logs or branches in a shady corner of the garden for frogs and insects to shelter under.

Plants for wildlife

If you’re thinking about creating a wildlife garden try and include a range of plants which provide flowers from spring through until autumn. Bees and butterflies are active during these seasons and need to gather enough food in this time to help them through the winter and early spring. Plants which provide seeds, nuts and berries will be appreciated by birds, and evergreen shrubs and hedges provide good shelter in the winter months. We’ve put together a list of good plants for attracting wildlife into your garden.

Bees

Butterflies

Birds