How to help wildlife thrive in you back garden

The British back garden is becoming increasingly important for all sorts of wildlife.

Leave cutting your bushes and seed heads until the springtime because they provide hibernation sites and overwintering shelters for all sorts of wildlife. Many of the seeds found in uncut bushes provide an important food source for birds.

Why not leave a patch of your lawn uncut? Where the short grass meets the long grass many butterflies lay their eggs.

You could also create a small woody log pile in your back garden. This will provide a habitat and food source for beetles, which in turn make up about 30% of a hedgehog’s diet along with slugs and other pests.

Get together with your neighbours and turn where you live into a ‘hedgehog street’. This will involve leaving gaps in between your fencing to allow hedgehogs to pass from garden to garden.

The animals will also be able to help you out by eating your garden pests so they don’t nibble your plants. 

It is really important to help keep the number of insects in your garden up and one way you can do this is by encouraging them into your garden with lots of colourful plants.

Insects play an important part in making a garden flourish. For example, moths are essential for keeping your garden healthy as they are vital for feeding birds. Ladybirds eat greenflies and bees play a crucial role in pollinating plants.

The honeybee is in particular peril, but every gardener can help by planting pollinator friendly plants in their gardens and allotments. We can offer lots of free advice at the garden centre about creating wildlife-friendly plots.