Tees Valley Biodiversity Partnership

into your garden

1. Dig a garden pond to create a wildlife habitat brimming with life. Avoid stocking it with fish and you will probably be rewarded with the arrival of breeding frogs or even toads and newts. If space is short, then any water feature or a birdbath will provide a welcome drink for visiting birds.
2. Plant a nectar café to attract bees and butterflies to your garden. Choose nectar-rich plants such as lavender and buddleia and extend the season of your café by using plants that flower at different times. For example, grape hyacinth and aubrietia in spring and ice plant and Michaelmas daisy for autumn.
3. Provide shelter and food for wildlife by planting a hedge, a small tree or shrubs if space is short. These will provide nesting and shelter sites for birds as well as small mammals. Look out for trees and shrubs with berries such as hawthorn, rowan and cotoneaster.
4. Grow climbing plants to create an extra habitat. Ivy is a favorite choice as not only does it give shelter to birds and insects but also its late flowers are rich in nectar for hoverflies. Its berries are a valuable food source for birds, such as blackbirds and thrushes.
5. Delay cutting back your perennial border until spring. Birds will visit the seed heads and ladybirds and lacewings will hibernate in the dead stems, emerging in spring to feast on aphids and other garden pests.
6. Start a compost bin – not only will this enrich your soil but it will reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfill sites. Compost heaps support a rich community of minibeasts, which are food to hedgehogs and provide warmth and shelter for them too.
7. Experiment with cutting your lawn. Try leaving some areas a little longer and find out what plants then flower. You can add to them by planting plugs of wildflowers and scattering wildflower seeds in the bare patches.
8. Reduce your use of garden pesticides and allow populations of natural predators such a ladybirds to build up and control pests for you.
9. Create a mini log pile in a shaded place, adding some upturned or broken plant pots. You will be amazed at which creepy crawlies colonise it and you may even be rewarded by a visiting hedgehog or fox.
10. Don’t forget to relax and enjoy your garden. Wildlife gardening isn’t all about work, so sit and appreciate your garden and its wildlife. Why not start your days by taking your first cup of tea in the garden and listen to the early morning bird song or the bees humming?