Wildlife Gardening - Animals

There are 15 million gardens in the UK and they are estimated to cover an area greater than all the National Nature Reserves in the UK.  Each garden on its own may be small, but collectively they form a patchwork of habitats, and corridors, that will support plants and animals ensuring that wildlife is around for future generations to know and experience.

Wildlife gardening does not mean you have to leave your garden to become untidy and overgrown.  Wildlife gardening is just that – gardening in such a way as to encourage wildlife.  Even if you don’t have a garden you can still help and watch wildlife.

Wildlife just needs four things from your garden – food, water, shelter and places to breed.  The more variety there is within the structure and design of your garden, the greater the number of opportunities that exist for wildlife.  But wildlife gardening does not have to be expensive or complicated, nor do you need a large garden – even flats and other properties without a garden can help and encourage wildlife.

Birds

In the past it has been frowned upon to feed birds all the year round, but today it is almost essential.  Because they are small and have high metabolic rates most garden birds need to consume between 25 and 50% of their body weight every day. 

The preferred food type may differ from bird to bird, and from season to season.  Some of the most popular foods are peanuts, sunflower seeds, seed mixes, lard and suet cakes infused with seeds, even raisins and sultanas.

The simplest way of feeding birds is to scatter the food on your lawn.  But there are two problems with this.  Firstly, it won’t just be the birds that will be able to access the food - dogs, cats, squirrels, hedgehogs and others will have free access to the food.  Secondly, not all birds like to feed from the ground – thrushes, blackbirds, robins and jays regularly do, but there are plenty of others that don’t feel safe that low down.  Alternatives include bird tables and hanging feeders. 

Even if you don’t have a garden you can still use the type of feeders that have suckers enabling them to be stuck to your windows.   The birds will take a little while to get used to them, but in time you will be rewarded with one of the best, and most close up, views of wild birds.  Beware of Collared Doves though – they are too heavy for even the strongest suckers.

We are lucky in Stevenage, with lots of woodland, hedgerows and over 40,000 mature street trees there are plenty of opportunities for birds to find an unoccupied hole or space in which to build a nest.  However, it can be a magical experience providing a home for a bird, see it chosen, and then watch a family be raised and fledged from it.  There are lots of different designs of bird boxes to cater for the individual needs of different birds such as blue tits, great tits, tree creepers, etc.  You can either buy a good box from you local garden center or make your own – designs and details are available from Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - www.rspb.org.uk.

Hedgehogs

If you hear a gentle rustling in your garden on a summers evening, chances are that you have a prickly visitor. 

Hedgehogs are a fantastic, non-chemical way to help with slug control in your garden.  In addition to slugs, hedgehogs will eat beetles, caterpillars, centipedes, spiders and earthworms to supplement their diet.  If you want to do more to encourage this prickly little animals in to your garden you can put out dog and cat food, or you could try a commercial hedgehog food mix.  Do not feed these animals cows milk though as it is too rich for them.

Hedgehogs will prefer to make their homes in a well drained and quiet corner of the garden.  For hibernation in the winter they will require a more secure, warm and water-tight home.  Should you wish to provide a winter home for hedgehogs you could build a simple metre square log camp about 30-40cm high packed with dry grass, hay and leaves and covered with a stout plastic tent.  This should be further buried beneath more logs and leaves to secure, and hide, the roof and also provide adequate insulation.

Hedgehogs sometimes get bad press, and this is often due to fleas.  It is true that hedgehogs can be heavily infested with fleas.  However, the species concerned is entirely specific to the hedgehog.  It definitely will not cross infect you, your cat, dog, hamster or child.  You are not at risk from hedgehog parasites, but it is not advisable to  handle wild hedgehogs as they can bite.

Butterflies

Butterflies are a favourite of adults and children alike.  The colourful displays can be amazing, but butterflies have even simpler requirements than birds and mammals. 

Adult butterflies need a high energy activator and for them that means nectar.  Some plants produce more nectar than others, but none of them flower throughout the entire period that the adult butterflies are on the wing.  It is therefore necessary to try and organise a sequence of successively flowering plants to see the butterflies throughout the year – Aubrieta in spring, Lavander and Buddleia in summer and Sedum and Asters in the autumn.

Wildflowers

An area of lawn that is regularly cut to keep the grass short creates a good feeding ground for birds.  However, areas that are left to grow throughout the summer, and cut at the end of the season, also have benefit for wildlife, more especially if also planted with wildflowers. 

The majority of urban soils will be too fertile.  You will need to remove nutrients and clear the site – this can be achieved by covering the area with black polythene for a season, alternatively you could remove the fertile top layer of soil, or use herbicide.

It is essential that the soil is worked into a fine, dry crumb structure prior to sowing and that it is rolled afterwards to ensure a good soil-seed contact.  Sowing rates vary between species.  Not all mixes will flower instantly – some will take 2-3 years, some longer.  Once plants are established, cutting regimes and timings are critical. 

Log Piles

Wherever you live and whatever your garden is like it will have hundreds, if not thousands, if not tens of thousands, of invertebrates living in it – insects, spiders, millipedes, centipedes, and lots more.  The vast majority of these life forms are microscopic and we’ll all live our lives without ever seeing them or knowing their names.  But these tiny organisms form the basis of most other life in our gardens.

Log piles don’t need much space, and provide ideal homes for a wide range of invertebrates.  Make a log pile in the corner of your garden with logs as large as you can manage.  Don’t pinch logs from the countryside and woodlands where they will already be doing their good work.  Instead get them from a fuel merchant or a farmer selling logs. 

Stack them neatly, leaving a few access gaps for larger species of insect and invertebrates to crawl in to.  Then forget about it - the habitat requirements of many of the species in rotten wood will not benefit from exposure to light and air. 

Watch out for the Stevenage in Bloom 2006 next month.  The In Bloom Forum will be promoting a Best Wildlife Garden category in this years competition.  Details and entry forms will be available from Easter.

Top Tips

• Grow a mixture of native and non-native plants that flower at different times of the year.  This will ensure that nectar and pollen are available to bees and other insects over as long a period as possible.
• Planting a group or drift of each plant will make the colour or scent easier to detect.
• Trees, shrubs and hedges provide shelter and protection for a wide range of wildlife, particularly nesting birds and hibernating insects.  Many provide food in the form of leaves, nectar-rich flowers, berries, fruits, seeds and nuts.  They also provide good hunting grounds for predators looking for insects and other invertebrates.
• A pond, ideally without fish, will enable amphibians and dragonflies to breed.  But if a pond is not practical, a simple bird bath or pebble fountain will provide a place for birds and animals to drink.
• Wait until the spring to cut back your perennials.  The seed heads that remain provide food for birds and other animals through the winter, and the stems and foliage provide valuable shelter for hibernating insects.
• Bird and bat boxes, solitary bee nests and bird feeders help wildlife.
• Long grass is an excellent habitat for grasshoppers, beetles and young amphibians, and also provides roosts for insects such as damselflies.  Grasses are also important food sources for the caterpillars of some butterflies.
• Where possible use mulches to control weeds.  Mulches will also help the soil to retain moisture, and therefore reduce the need for watering.
• Try and involve your neighbours and community in conservation by gently persuading them to consider the impact they can really have on their environment.