How do you make a wildlife garden?
The question is a simple one but there are many in-depth answers that we could respond with. We are under-taking exactly this task – making the Embrace Nature UK garden more fit for wildlife. Chris Packham once stated that despite his efforts in managing his garden, his neighbour had all the wildlife even though they did nothing to encourage it. It’s true that a scrappy piece of land can invite all sorts, though our intention is to entice a variety of animals by creating the necessities that they require. We will cover these things in more detail in future blog entries but for now, here are some of the things you can do to begin your wildlife garden.
Food
This is pretty obvious. Animals, birds and insects all need food but sometimes it comes down to more than just ‘nipping’ to the shop and purchasing bird and hedgehog food. This is a part of it but it’s more beneficial if you bring natural nutrients to the garden as well. One way to do this is to invite insects to the party first. Building an insect house is a great way to do this. An insect house might come in the form of something you purchase from a shop, a log pile or a home-made insect haven formed from wooden pallets.
Insects also need food of their own though, which is where clever planting comes in. Look for bee-friendly flowers and maybe keep an area for nettles so butterflies can lay their eggs on them.
Shelter
This is something that you can once again build yourself. Bird boxes, hedgehog homes and shelters for frogs and toads are all things that can be relatively easy to create and make a big difference to the wildlife in your garden. Plenty of foliage in the garden can be used to make these shelters a little more discrete and don’t forget those log piles! They are superb places for animals looking to hide away.
Water
Water is essential for life in your garden. Ponds are brilliant to have for those creatures that live in water or rely heavily on insects that surround water. They can be big or small and can be very simple to introduce to your garden.
It is also important to have places for birds to drink and bathe, in which case a bird bath is brilliant and for mammals such as hedgehogs, a bowl on the ground with water in is ideal.
Access
You won’t get wildlife in your garden unless you make sure animals can find a way in. This isn’t such an issue for birds and insects but for mammals such as hedgehogs, access is essential. Hedges are a natural way to keep access to the garden but if you have fences, you can simply cut a series of holes in the base to encourage some new visitors.
It is not only access to the garden that is required for wildlife. It’s important to have food and water that can be accessed by the species visiting. This might mean having a variety of water and food sources to please different creatures.
Access is also vital to avoid disaster. Create routes out of ponds so hedgehogs can find their way out if they fall in.
Embrace Nature UK – Episode Two
In Episode Two of Embrace Nature UK (available on Youtube), we have a look at the work we’ve done so far to get our own wildlife garden started. Keep watching this space to see the progress we make over the coming months.