Bring Wildlife to your Garden (Wildlife Gardening Plants)

Name: noodlesandwich

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Product:	Wildlife Gardening Plants
Date:	20/08/06 (903 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Encourages bio-diversity, fun and interesting.

Disadvantages: none

I've read a few articles about wildlife gardening recently and decided to do a little research into how to make my own small garden more wildlife friendly. I've discovered that small changes can make a big difference. Here are a few of the tips I've picked up.

A WILD CORNER
Try letting an area of your garden grow wild. I have a patch of grass at the bottom of my garden which is left to do just this. To be honest it started because that patch of grass is on a slope which is a bit of a pain to get the lawn mower up, but now I've realised that I'm not lazy I'm just helping the birds and the bees! Long grass provides food and shelter for lots of insects, butterflies and birds. Thistles are very attractive to Goldfinches in Autumn and let the nettles grow in a sunny patch too - they may not seem like the most attractive plant to have in your garden, but the stinging nettle is one of the UK’s most important plants for wildlife as it supports more than 40 species of insects, including some of our most colourful butterflies. Brambles are another food source for butterflies and birds and also provide good cover for small mammals.

BUTTERFLIES, BEES & BUGS
A wildflower area looks really attractive and helps to attract many butterflies which are becoming scarce as native hedgerows and meadows are lost. Buddleia is a favourite flower for many species of Butterfly and other good plants are Verbena, Choisya, Hebe and Lavender. Butterflies and Bees will be attracted to large flowering plants where the pollen and nectar can be reached easily. Perhaps you might like to buy a bee nesting box. It's good to try and keep a year round supply of nectar available for different insects. Ladybirds are great for the garden as they love to eat greenfly and you can buy bug boxes that will attract ladybirds to your garden and provide a place for them to stay over the Winter months.

A COMPOST HEAP
I have one of these behind a small wall at the back of my garden, (next to my little wild slope!). It's hardly noticeable over there and it's a good resource for various creatures. Birds like to feed on the invertebrates that love compost, particularly when the ground gets too hard for them in Winter. Don't leave meat or fish on it if you want to discourage rats, in any case vegetable waste is best for the soil. Be careful not to disturb small creatures such as hedgehogs or grass snakes when digging it over. Using compost is great for your garden and is vastly preferable to peat which is being plundered by big business at a huge environmental cost to the earth.

PONDS
One of the most significant differences you can make to wildlife in your garden is to put in a pond. My garden is too probably small for this, you need to have a reasonable sized garden and also obviously need to think very carefully about it if you have young children around. A pond can provide a home for fishes, frogs, toads and newts, as well as attracting a variety of birds, small mammals and insects looking for food and drink or a place to bathe. It's a fact that garden ponds support over 50% of British frogs! As well as all these benefits they can really add to the look of your garden, but if you don't want to go to the trouble a pond involves, you could still be helpful by making a smaller water source available, such as a bird bath.

SAVE THE HEDGEHOG!
According to an article in the Guardian earlier this year, British hedgehogs are dying at a rate of approximately a fifth of the population every four years and if this trend continues they will be extinct in less than twenty years time. Help save the hedgehog!

To encourage them into your garden try creating a place for them to hibernate. The best hibernation heap is warm, dry and in a quiet corner such as the back of a border or behind a shed. Hedgehogs usually dig themselves under a pile of vegetation or leaves.You could make a natural-looking heap with a pile of logs, or even cover a wooden box with plastic and hide it beneath a pile of leaves. Purpose built boxes with internal tunnels can be bought, these help to protect hedgehogs from predators like cats and foxes.

If you want to leave food out, do so at night after the flies have gone and remove the food in the early morning, as fly maggots can cause hedgehogs serious harm. To prevent other animals like Badgers, Cats or Foxes stealing the hedgehog’s food, keep it under a low platform. Contrary to traditional opinion it is not a good idea to leave bread and milk out for hedgehogs as this is actually bad for them. They can drink goats milk or the milk sold for cats, (like whiskas/felix milk), but water is the best drink as they need lots of it. A dish of tinned cat or dog food is one of the best foods to put out for them, apparently they like the chicken and liver varieties best, but not fish as that isn't natural for them and not the varieties with gravy as that can give them diarrhoea. Other options include; meat flavoured cat biscuits, chopped peanuts, raisins and mealworms.If you do start to feed them, be sure to keep it up, as they can quickly become dependant on you. If you are lucky enough to attract a hedgehog to hibernate in your garden leave some biscuits and water nearby as they often wake up in need of a quick snack and this can be a lifesaver.

BIRDS
The obvious way to attract birds to your garden is to keep a well stocked bird table in your garden and the other obvious thing is to put up a nesting box. If you do start a table, be sure to keep it stocked up, as birds often make special trips and can waste much needed energy doing this. Keep bird feeders high off the ground to make it harder for cats to pounce and keep any feeding containers clean. Lots of household scraps are fine to put out for birds, but don't put out salty food. The RSPB have a list available which shows what is best for certaion types of birds and what to avoid: http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/feeding/what_food.as p. As an alternative to putting food out, plant bushes like Holly, Pyracantha and Cotoneasters which bear berries for birds to eat in Winter.

BATS
Bats are protected by UK law because their numbers have decreased so dramatically. Ponds are a bat friendly feature for your garden, as they provide a steady supply of insects to eat. A mixed, native hedge can also concentrate the insect supply for a variety of bat species. There are many websites which will show you the how to make a bat box for your garden to provide a place for them to roost and you can also buy ready made boxes. To find out more about these wonderful creatures visit The Bat Conservation Trust website at www.bats.org.uk

And finally

DON'T!

1. Don't buy peat or plants grown in peat. Peat bogs support rare wildlife, as well as this peat plays an important part in controlling the greenhouse effect and also acts as a unique acidic preserve that helps us to find out about our social and environmental history. 94% of the UK's peat bogs have already been destroyed, but they are still mining for it despite campaigns by environmental groups. Don't support this destruction, there are much better easy ways to garden.

2. Don't use chemicals on your garden.Weedkillers and slug pellets are not just poisonous to weeds and slugs. Find out more about organic gardening methods instead.

The bbc has lots of information on wildlife gardening, for more information visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/wildbritain/ga rdenwildlife/
All of the nesting boxes I've mentioned are available to purchase from wildlife organisations such as the RSPB, whose online shop is at http://shopping.rspb.org.uk/mall/departmentpage.cf m/rspb

Summary: Building a wildlife garden is easy, enjoyable and rewarding - so if you can, do it!