How to Design Your Garden so it Will Attract Wildlife
Want to encourage more wildlife into your garden? Follow these few easy steps
Everybody gets excited by seeing wildlife in their garden. However, there are so many species on the decline now that, if you want to see more animals and insects, it makes sense to try to create a biodiverse habitat close to home. Here are a few tips.
Built an insect hotel
Making or buying an insect hotel will encourage beneficial creatures into your garden and add much-needed biodiversity. Building your own is such fun and it can be made from recycled materials, like the one in this garden.
Many insects like damp and shade, so you can site your structure by a hedge or tree. Alternatively, if you put it in a sunnier spot, you can encourage more bees. Make sure you use a combination of materials, including: stones and tiles for amphibians; loose bark for beetles, spiders and centipedes; dry sticks for ladybirds; straw and hay for invertebrates to burrow in; holes for solitary bees, which you can create by using old bamboo canes, and which you may see blocked with dry mud by the bee.
You can also create a solitary bee nesting box easily by making a box out of treated wood, filling it with dry, hollow stems of bamboo or with plants such as sunflowers or teasels, and packing them in tightly so no stems fall out. Fix this to a sunny and sheltered wall.
Discover more about how to create a bee-friendly garden
Making or buying an insect hotel will encourage beneficial creatures into your garden and add much-needed biodiversity. Building your own is such fun and it can be made from recycled materials, like the one in this garden.
Many insects like damp and shade, so you can site your structure by a hedge or tree. Alternatively, if you put it in a sunnier spot, you can encourage more bees. Make sure you use a combination of materials, including: stones and tiles for amphibians; loose bark for beetles, spiders and centipedes; dry sticks for ladybirds; straw and hay for invertebrates to burrow in; holes for solitary bees, which you can create by using old bamboo canes, and which you may see blocked with dry mud by the bee.
You can also create a solitary bee nesting box easily by making a box out of treated wood, filling it with dry, hollow stems of bamboo or with plants such as sunflowers or teasels, and packing them in tightly so no stems fall out. Fix this to a sunny and sheltered wall.
Discover more about how to create a bee-friendly garden
Get the buzz back
There are other ways to bring in the bees, too. Attracting bees not only helps your garden to grow beautifully, it’s also essential for food production. With many bee species in decline, the more we can help them, the better.
Planting the right nectar- and pollen-rich plants will make it easier for bees and encourage them to your garden. Choose single flowering blooms, as they’re far better than double or multi-petalled flowers.
Good trees for bees include: crab apples; Salix caprea (pussy willow), and acer ‘Atropurpureum’. Hedging is also great for bees, especially Ilex aquifolium (holly); hawthorn, and, left to flower, the common cherry laurel Prunus laurocerasus.
For shrubs, there’s an endless list, but try: Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’; Escallonia ‘Apple blossom’; shrub roses and cotoneaster. There’s a vast array of perennials to choose from, too: Centaurea scabiosa; Nepeta racemosa; Sedum spectabile; Lavandula ‘Edelweiss’; Stachys officinalis; Helenium autumnale; calamint and Verbena bonariensis are just a few to start you off.
There are also many bulbs and annuals that provide essential nectar and pollen; you can download a list from local beekeeper associations.
There are other ways to bring in the bees, too. Attracting bees not only helps your garden to grow beautifully, it’s also essential for food production. With many bee species in decline, the more we can help them, the better.
Planting the right nectar- and pollen-rich plants will make it easier for bees and encourage them to your garden. Choose single flowering blooms, as they’re far better than double or multi-petalled flowers.
Good trees for bees include: crab apples; Salix caprea (pussy willow), and acer ‘Atropurpureum’. Hedging is also great for bees, especially Ilex aquifolium (holly); hawthorn, and, left to flower, the common cherry laurel Prunus laurocerasus.
For shrubs, there’s an endless list, but try: Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’; Escallonia ‘Apple blossom’; shrub roses and cotoneaster. There’s a vast array of perennials to choose from, too: Centaurea scabiosa; Nepeta racemosa; Sedum spectabile; Lavandula ‘Edelweiss’; Stachys officinalis; Helenium autumnale; calamint and Verbena bonariensis are just a few to start you off.
There are also many bulbs and annuals that provide essential nectar and pollen; you can download a list from local beekeeper associations.
Grow your own bird food
I love the sound of birdsong and try to encourage as many small birds as possible into my garden. For the past few years, I’ve seen an upturn in the numbers of goldfinches, especially after leaving the seedheads on lavender. Goldfinches are wonderful to watch, as they swoop down in pairs or larger numbers to feast.
Sunflower heads are often sold in garden centres as whole dried flower heads, packed with seeds. Grasses can also be good food for birds. Miscanthus sinensis ‘Flamingo’ is a striking ornamental grass loved by greenfinches and goldfinches.
The Betula pendula (silver birch tree) supports many different insect species, but also produces catkins with tiny seeds that, after flowering, attract many small birds, including tits, finches and siskins.
I love the sound of birdsong and try to encourage as many small birds as possible into my garden. For the past few years, I’ve seen an upturn in the numbers of goldfinches, especially after leaving the seedheads on lavender. Goldfinches are wonderful to watch, as they swoop down in pairs or larger numbers to feast.
Sunflower heads are often sold in garden centres as whole dried flower heads, packed with seeds. Grasses can also be good food for birds. Miscanthus sinensis ‘Flamingo’ is a striking ornamental grass loved by greenfinches and goldfinches.
The Betula pendula (silver birch tree) supports many different insect species, but also produces catkins with tiny seeds that, after flowering, attract many small birds, including tits, finches and siskins.
Plant in the sun for beautiful butterflies
A recent report has revealed that, over the past 40 years, butterfly numbers in the UK have declined by three quarters, and more than 60 types of moth have become extinct during the last century. The Government has recognised that butterflies and moths are indicators of biodiversity, and that their struggle to survive presents us with a serious warning about the environment.
As butterflies like the warmth, you can help by siting nectar-rich plants in sunny, sheltered spots. You can prolong the flowering period by frequently deadheading, too.
Some of the best plants for attracting butterflies include buddleia, known as the butterfly bush; Verbena bonariensis; lavenders; perennial wallflowers (such as ‘Bowles’s mauve’) and marjoram (oregano).
A recent report has revealed that, over the past 40 years, butterfly numbers in the UK have declined by three quarters, and more than 60 types of moth have become extinct during the last century. The Government has recognised that butterflies and moths are indicators of biodiversity, and that their struggle to survive presents us with a serious warning about the environment.
As butterflies like the warmth, you can help by siting nectar-rich plants in sunny, sheltered spots. You can prolong the flowering period by frequently deadheading, too.
Some of the best plants for attracting butterflies include buddleia, known as the butterfly bush; Verbena bonariensis; lavenders; perennial wallflowers (such as ‘Bowles’s mauve’) and marjoram (oregano).
Make your front garden wildlife friendly
Front gardens can be just as attractive to wildlife with the right planting. Even if you park your car in your front garden, you can plant in the corner areas, up against walls, or in containers on gravel or paved areas. You can also plant into the gravel, even if you park over it, with thyme, using the variety Thymus serpyllum.
You can cover unsightly bins in your front garden by building a bin store with a sedum roof. All manner of insects love sedum, including bees, butterflies and ladybirds. Sedum also provides an invaluable home to beetles, spiders and other invertebrates, which helps support biodiversity.
Front gardens can be just as attractive to wildlife with the right planting. Even if you park your car in your front garden, you can plant in the corner areas, up against walls, or in containers on gravel or paved areas. You can also plant into the gravel, even if you park over it, with thyme, using the variety Thymus serpyllum.
You can cover unsightly bins in your front garden by building a bin store with a sedum roof. All manner of insects love sedum, including bees, butterflies and ladybirds. Sedum also provides an invaluable home to beetles, spiders and other invertebrates, which helps support biodiversity.
Let you grass grow
There’s a great temptation to have a bowling green for a lawn, manicured and perfect with no weeds. However, if you can, let your grass grow. Even if it’s just in small areas, you’ll encourage so many insects.
Dandelions provide vital pollen early in the season, and white clover is a magnet for honeybees. Bumblebees, which have longer tongues, prefer red clover. Try to leave some nettles, too – these are good for caterpillars and provide breeding places for moths and butterflies. Don’t mow the daisies – let them take over once the dandelions have finished to prolong pollination.
There’s a great temptation to have a bowling green for a lawn, manicured and perfect with no weeds. However, if you can, let your grass grow. Even if it’s just in small areas, you’ll encourage so many insects.
Dandelions provide vital pollen early in the season, and white clover is a magnet for honeybees. Bumblebees, which have longer tongues, prefer red clover. Try to leave some nettles, too – these are good for caterpillars and provide breeding places for moths and butterflies. Don’t mow the daisies – let them take over once the dandelions have finished to prolong pollination.
Provide a home for nesting birds
Adding bird boxes to your garden is a certain way of attracting small nesting birds, even the declining starling. House sparrows are also in decline and these birds like to nest in colonies, so put up a few boxes near each other.
Make sure you don’t disturb nesting birds, and provide them with some water nearby with a birdbath. By also giving the birds extra food, you’ll encourage them to return each year. You can buy readymade bird boxes for nesting or make your own very easily. Birds also like to eat lard and beef suet, uncooked oats and cooked rice.
Adding bird boxes to your garden is a certain way of attracting small nesting birds, even the declining starling. House sparrows are also in decline and these birds like to nest in colonies, so put up a few boxes near each other.
Make sure you don’t disturb nesting birds, and provide them with some water nearby with a birdbath. By also giving the birds extra food, you’ll encourage them to return each year. You can buy readymade bird boxes for nesting or make your own very easily. Birds also like to eat lard and beef suet, uncooked oats and cooked rice.
Create a nature highway
Many gardens have high walls, but if you get on with your neighbours, you can create a ‘nature highway’, to make moving around easier for creatures who travel long distances.
Hedgehogs, for example, can walk up to a mile a day looking for a mate and food, and other creatures also need to move freely through gardens. If you’re able to put in a door or gate, as in this garden, you’ll help hedgehogs and other creatures move around.
As many creatures are nocturnal, you may miss them, but on dry evenings, put some sand along the edge of a gate or door and in the morning you may see little footprints.
Be sure to check logs piles and compost areas for hedgehogs and slowworms before moving valuable habitats. Also check bonfires before burning.
Many gardens have high walls, but if you get on with your neighbours, you can create a ‘nature highway’, to make moving around easier for creatures who travel long distances.
Hedgehogs, for example, can walk up to a mile a day looking for a mate and food, and other creatures also need to move freely through gardens. If you’re able to put in a door or gate, as in this garden, you’ll help hedgehogs and other creatures move around.
As many creatures are nocturnal, you may miss them, but on dry evenings, put some sand along the edge of a gate or door and in the morning you may see little footprints.
Be sure to check logs piles and compost areas for hedgehogs and slowworms before moving valuable habitats. Also check bonfires before burning.
Keep some wildlife out!
Of course, there are some members of the wildlife population you may not want to encourage, and good fencing may be needed. Rabbits, foxes, badgers and deer can be a real problem and, although they’re wonderful to look at in your garden, you may have nothing flowering left after all your hard work.
I try to use as much local coppiced wood as possible to make fencing in gardens, as it not only looks great, but is sustainably sourced. There may be a need for some netting to be dug into the ground, but you can still attach the wood to one side and have a much nicer fence to look at, especially around the vegetable area.
Check out what to do in the garden in June
TELL US…
How have you attracted wildlife into your garden? Share your tips or photos in the Comments below.
Of course, there are some members of the wildlife population you may not want to encourage, and good fencing may be needed. Rabbits, foxes, badgers and deer can be a real problem and, although they’re wonderful to look at in your garden, you may have nothing flowering left after all your hard work.
I try to use as much local coppiced wood as possible to make fencing in gardens, as it not only looks great, but is sustainably sourced. There may be a need for some netting to be dug into the ground, but you can still attach the wood to one side and have a much nicer fence to look at, especially around the vegetable area.
Check out what to do in the garden in June
TELL US…
How have you attracted wildlife into your garden? Share your tips or photos in the Comments below.
Water in any garden provides another dimension. It creates wonderful reflections, gentle noise – if you have a small pump – and is a real magnet for wildlife. Plants and animals will colonise your pond or small water feature naturally.
Shallow sides, as seen in this Sussex garden, will encourage birds to drink and wildlife to get in and out easily. Amphibians, such as frogs and newts, will soon appear, as will mayflies and dragonflies, as well as an array of other bugs, including pond skaters and snails.
There’s a list of non-native, invasive water plants you should avoid putting in your pond, so do check before buying. If you want fish, be aware that these will eat many invertebrates and amphibian eggs and reduce the biodiversity of the pond.
Even if you just create a small boggy area somewhere in your garden, you will attract wildlife – so get digging!
See how to add decorative birds and bees to your interior, too