Making a Wildlife Garden

Imagine you are a hedgehog or a butterfly, or maybe a beetle, a grasshopper, a small mammal like a mouse, or a bird, a toad or a bumblebee.

Now think about what sort of garden you would like to make your home in. Well, I am sure you would always choose a garden, which provides you with the best food and shelter you need, and this will be a garden which has lots of undisturbed corners and which most resembles the countryside which is your natural home.

Encouraging wildlife into your garden will help ensure the survival of animals, insects and plants which may be under threat in the countryside, from the use of chemicals or the destruction of their natural habitats. For example, through the building of new roads and houses.

If you would like to welcome wildlife into your garden, there are many simple things you can do. Essentially, it is about creating the right kinds of habitats for the creatures you want to attract. Even if you can only introduce a few of them into your garden, like leaving some long areas of grass, you will still be making a valuable contribution to the survival of wildlife in your area.

Here are some ideas�

Let us consider shelter first of all. This is essential, not only so that wildlife can hide from other creatures, which may look on them as food but to have somewhere to raise their young. They can also hibernate somewhere cosy and safe, where they can spend the cold winter months.

Dead wood or logs make a wonderful habitat for beetles and other insects so why not pile up any old bits of branches or twigs that you find to make a nice home for these little creatures, maybe at the back of your garden.

Hollow canes, plant stems also make excellent nesting sites for lacewings and ladybirds.

Perhaps you can make up bundles of these plant materials and wait to see how long it is before they have some new residents!

Areas of long grass, which have been left uncut, will allow wildflowers to grow, ideal places for insects, like grasshoppers, butterflies and spiders. It is also an important source of food for caterpillars and butterflies. Why not ask your parents to leave an area in your garden where the grass can grow thick and tall. An added bonus is that if the grass is left uncut then wild flowers like daisies, dandelions and buttercups will also flourish.

You may also want to grow some other wild flowers like ox-eye daisies, cowslips or poppies that provide lots of pollen and nectar for a variety of insects.

Why not scatter some of their seeds amongst your long grass to create a meadow area. Packets of wild flowers seeds are usually easy to find in your local flower shop. It is best to sow most of these flower seeds between March and April.

Climbing plants like honeysuckle and ivy, which don't take up a lot of space, are ideal for birds, small mammals and insects to hide and nest in. Ivy also provides a late source of nectar for butterflies, such as Holly Blue.

Delay tidying plant bed borders, until late winter or early spring, as they will provide shelter for insects during the winter months.

Piles of garden debris and old leaves will provide a cosy home for creatures like hedgehogs to hibernate in winter. Maybe you already have some at the back of your garden you can use.

Now time for food.

If your garden is full of insects as a result of the habitats you have helped to create for them, then this in itself will attract many different types of bird who love to feed on them. Insects will also attract hedgehogs who are gardener's friends. Not only do hedgehogs eat plenty of insects like earwigs but also the snails and slugs which feed off your parents' flowers and vegetables.

Plant nectar rich flowers or berry producing shrubs attract bees, butterflies and birds. Butterflies, especially love the nectar rich flowers of the buddleia, sometimes known as the `butterfly bush' because it attracts so many of these pretty insects, as it does bees. Butterflies also love scabious and ice plants.

Having a wide variety of flowers and shrubs in your garden with different flowering times will ensure a plentiful supply of nectar through spring to autumn and guarantee the presence of bees and butterflies. The bumble bee in particular is under threat as its natural habitats are disappearing. Make sure your garden has some of their favourite plants such as, white clover, foxgloves, nasturtiums and snapdragons, to help secure the future of these insects.

Stinging nettles attract the red admiral, comma, peacock and small tortoiseshell butterflies whose caterpillars feed on the leaves. So if you want to see plenty of these beautiful insects, and you have nettles in your garden, leave them to grow undisturbed.

Water is an important part of a wildlife garden so we will tell you in a later edition of this webpage how to make a wildlife pond. If you do not have room for a pond we will also tell you how to create an area of water in a container, such as a garden tub.

Most importantly, tell your parents not to use chemicals, like slug pellets, to get rid of garden pests as these could also harm other wildlife like birds and hedgehogs.

Why not take a look in your garden and see how wildlife friendly it already is and then decide what other things from the list above you might do to make it even friendlier!

If you do not have a garden, don't worry. You may have a balcony with window boxes or a hanging basket of grass and wild flowers.

Just make sure that the plants you use can be container grown.

Tell us if you have a garden in an unusual place, -a roof garden maybe, or perhaps you live on a riverboat and have space for some plant pots on its deck or roof.