Wildlife in the Garden

Attracting Wildlife To Your Garden leaf

Short Grass
Short grasses, such as lawns, attract more wildlife if not sprayed with weedkillers. If small wildflowers are allowed to grow insects, birds and especially bees will flock to your garden. Mow/cut the grass regularly but leave the clippings spread evenly on the lawn. This encourages earthworms which will attract birds.

Long Grass
Areas of long grasses are a long term investment but they attract more wildlife with every year. Cut back twice a year to ensure that flowers set seed and remove the cuttings. This keeps the soil poor so that short grasses can not compete with them. Here grow the wildflowers bees and butterflies love.

Hedges
Birds love hedges for they provide everything they need - cover, food, nesting materials. Evergreens are a good choice.

Trimming both the top and sides of the hedge will produce dense foliage, which provide cover for birds' nests.

Trimming the sides of the hedge only, leaving top to grow into trees, will provide fruits for bird food.

Leave the hedge to grow naturally to provide cover which even shy birds may choose to nest in.
Holly, trimmed only once in winter, ((after the berries have gone)) is a good provider of food. Beech, trimmed only once in late autumn, provides nesting for a variety of birds such as dunnocks, linnets, bullfinches and thrushes.

Herbaceous Beds

Encourage wild plants to grow in amongst cultivated ones. This will get rid of those bare patches of dirt and even invasive species can be hemmed in with shrubs. ((Identify the weeds - half the time they are not weeds at all but useful vegetable plants.)) This attracts insects, etc.

Cut seed heads after winter as they provide food for birds and insect shelter in the dead stalks.

Have a selection of plants which between them flower for as much of the year as possible, providing food and/or cover all year.

Trees
In larger gardens the occasional tree can be a welcome haven, food source or look-out to many species. Leave small piles of deadwood about to attract insects such as beetles. Allow ivy to climb up the tree trunk as it will, to provide food and shelter for birds, bats and insects.

Rockeries
Relatively easy to create and maintain, the little hidden corners of this habitat are a refuge for woodlice, newts, snail's eggs, frogs and toads. They are also, therefore, great for hungry birds.

Ponds
A pond or such body of still water is not only aesthetically pleasing - it allows for many varieties of colourful plants. It attracts everything from birds, to toads, to hedgehogs, dragonflies and damselflies. Remember to raise one side gradually so that the animals do not get trapped in the water. Placing a block of wood in the water will prevent it freezing over in winter. ((Do not use anti-freeze or salt)) If the garden is not big, a makeshift pond can be easily made out of an upturned bucket or such.

Attracting Specific Beasties leaf

Butterflies and Dragonflies

Butterfly:	On Wing about:	Attracted By/Main Foods are:
Common Blue	Summer and late august	Rest Harrow, Bird's Foot Trefoil and other legumes. Flowery, sunny areas.
Cabbage Whites: Green Veined White Large White Small White	Late spring and early summer	Cabbages, Milkmaid
Large Tortoiseshell	.	Elm, but sometimes other broad-leaved trees. Open woodland and glades.
Orange Tip	Late spring	Cuckoo flower, garlic mustard, milkmaid, honesty. Flowery, often damp areas.
Painted Lady	.	Thistles, also stinging nettles. Flowery areas.
Peacock	Late Spring to Late August	Stinging nettles
Red Admiral	Summer to early August	Flowers (or fruit in autumn). Larvae feed on stinging nettles.
Small Tortoiseshell	Mid-spring through to summer, august to hibernation	Flowers. Stinging nettles for larvae.
White Admiral	Summer to early august	Woodland honeysuckle. Flowers.
Dragonfly:	On Wing about:	Attracted By/Main Foods are:
Blue Tailed Damselfly	.	Around still or slow moving water including ditches and bogs. Also tolerates polluted ones.
Broad Bodied Chaser	.	Still water including small ponds.
Common Hawker	.	Acidic to neutral still bodies of water.
Large Red Damselfly	.	Around still/slow moving water including bogs and ditches.

Bees
Alfalfa, balm, basil, clover, hyssop, heather, dandelions, thyme and charlock but really any flowery plant will do - Rosebay, Willowherb, Red deadnettle, poppy, coltsfoot, sow thistles, marigolds, lupin, etc.

Birds - Food and nestboxes
It is important to only feed the birds from mid-autumn to early spring or else they will become dependent on the hand outs. Also, many foods such as peanuts can kill baby birds so feeding them at this time may do more harm than good. Put birdtables out of reach of predators and put up a few perches nearby so that the birds can look around before feeding. Spread the food around so that they do not have to fight over it. Dawn and near-dusk are the best times to feed. Clean the table regularly and replace rusty screws to prevent disease.
Here are a few examples of the kinds of food to put out:

Bread (moistened in water so it will not swell in the birds stomachs and kill them)
Raisins/Sultanas (soaked in water)
Other fruits
Nuts (NOT salted) and seeds
Suet (try spreading this into the bark of trees)
Fresh coconut (NOT dessicated)
Stale cake
Small chunks of Cheese
Small sections of Bacon rind
Bones with bits of meat still on

Put nestboxes high up and hide it in amongst leaves so that predators will not find them. Fix them in sheltered positions away from direct sunlight and strong winds. Make sure they are not too close to each other or a birdtable (else the resident birds will spend all their time chasing away rivals). Clean out the box in winter after making absolutely certain the birds have left. Do not put it back up straight away as it may be used by insects or hibernating animals. Scatter interesting nesting materials around the garden for the birds to 'find' such as feathers, newly mown grass, moss, dried leaves and straw.

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