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When we moved into our current house the plan was to make the garden as wildlife friendly as possible.
12 years later its still an ongoing project.
3 years ago we planted a mixed hornbeam and hawthorn hedge.
The latest change was to take out the mini pond and put in a much larger one. It's already starting to settle in.
All this has doubled the bird population (helped a tiny bit by next doors cat dying) and brought in mammals and amphibians.
The wildflower patch needs a bit more work but apart from that its been a success.
Any more ideas would be great and photos. Thanks
Have you put any bird boxes or bat boxes in? They're also on my list to do.
The feeders are starting to get some attention from the birds now.
Unfortunately most of the work in my garden is detrimental to wildlife as I'm having to remove a bunch of massively overgrown thorny shrubs...
Have a look at BLUE campaign on fb
No pics, but this year we planted loads of plug plants from here; https://www.naturescape.co.uk/
We chose self-seeding and perennials, and they are doing really well. They are native and attract loads of bees and insects and they look great. I think we have musk mallow, verbena, wood sage, campion and teasels as the birds love the seed heads.
A few log stacks are great for bugs, frogs and toads etc.
Going to make some bug hotels too out of bamboo, drilled wood etc.
I leave the grass long about 35mm is the shortest I cut but generally 50mm as its full of tiny frogs. Longer grass seems to cope better with drought and less weeds and moss.
Try and cultivate an overgrown look with uncleared corners that wildlife can hide in. Grow lots of bee friendly plants and make a shallow pond with plants in.
Bug hotels and bee homes are fascinating to watch.
We have lots of lavender, absolutely packed full of bees for 2-3 months of the year, the whole area has it's own buzzing noise...
Also Hedgehog highway holes in fences and HH feed stations. HH Houses aren't that effective, ours occasionally use them but prefer natural homes.
The compost heap is always a winner for wildlife, luckily our villiage is located on the outskirts of a
national park and most nights i have captured pine martens, red deer , foxes and a family of badgers all feeding off our left overs on my night camera.
We also have bees at the bottom of the garden and something, im guessing was a bear is trying to push the outside fence down to access it. Never a dull moment!
Can’t show all the feeders in my Acer, they’re hidden by the leaves, but the mess left underneath by the birds dropping bits of sunflower seed and suet pellets shows how active they are, I think there were nearly twenty starlings squabbling over access when I got home earlier, and the hedgehogs take advantage by munching on the bits of suet, as well as the dog food and cat creamy pockets we put out.
This is a pic I took a few days ago at around ten at night, there’s a couple of ‘hogs, one of the large adults, and one of last year’s smaller brood. We’ve had six around of an evening before, the three boxes I’ve fixed up as feeders can have three ‘hogs in at once, and I’ve seen one polish off a plate full, then barge into the next box, trying to climb over the ‘hog eating in there!
I’ve been sat out the back before now, on a warm evening with just Teva sandals on, and had one come up and sniff at my foot, and another grabbed my sock in its teeth and start tugging at it!
CountZero - That is fabulous.
Yes we have the bird boxes, (the bat box got trashed by nuthatches), insect hotel, long grass, hedges, trees, bee friendly flowers from March until November, pond, compost heaps however I haven't got a hedgehog house. We have left leaf piles out for them, but they are rare around here.
Yes the lavender idea is great. I have got some in the garden and pots along with flowering herbs (which I always leave to seed), but more would be better.
Our local badger comes and digs up the ground underneath the bird feeders. I keep a cage under the feeders to collect the dropped food (to help stop rats and squirrel), however one night I forget to move it and the badger managed to dig the cage up, just to get a couple of leftover seeds. Clever animals.
Love the pine marten. They are seeing something of a revival in this country. I found out recently that there are more around than are reported.
Very jealous about the hedgehogs CountZero. Unfortunately we have too many badgers around our way and they are apparently a nice little treat for hungry badgers. They often come in to the garden and dig up worms. We even had a bumble bee nest that they had tried to dig up. Fortunately for the bees, it is very rocky and they didn't manage to get down far enough to eat them.
Recently took part in a bat survey and had lots of recording equipment that had been loaned set up in the garden. We managed 8 different species of bat being picked up, which was great to find out. So going to pop up a bat box or two.