Welcome wildlife into your garden with some simple, but powerful action.
As the new year dawns, it’s a good time to ponder how we would like to go forward in 2025 with our gardening practices and what we want to achieve? These do not need to be big decisions but simple, small tweaks applied to everyday life to help us and the planet.
What makes you happy?
I made a number of little changes in 2024 that have had a significant effect on my garden and the wildlife within in it. Being proactive has felt good and benefited creatures from tiny mini beasts to birds and mammals.
Individually we can feel overwhelmed with the scale of wildlife depletion or the effects of climate change, I know I do, but if we pull together it is amazing what we can achieve; what we do in our gardens can have a positive knock-on effect to our neighbours as well.
As the ancient proverb goes ‘from little acorns mighty oaks grow’.
I have seen the wildlife in my garden multiply by transforming my humble urban space into a wildlife haven. Each change I made has had a noticeable impact. Why not make a pledge to be more wildlife friendly in your garden in 2025 and see what you can achieve?
Hedgehog highways
My urban garden is smack in the middle of a housing estate and next to a busy main road; it had never been visited by hedgehogs in all the 18 years we have lived here, until last year…
Surrounded by solid fencing on all sides our garden was impenetrable, nothing was getting in here without wings. Over time our back gate deteriorated and needed replacing, so we installed a new one. But this time we took the decision to leave a hedgehog sized gap underneath it as means of access (and exit) should a spiny hog trot over to our part of the neighbourhood.
One night I turned on the outside lights to take one last look at the garden before bedtime and to my surprise there was a prickly hedgehog, bang in the middle of our lawn, frantically digging holes and pulling worms out of the ground. I could not believe my eyes! Stunned by the sudden intrusion of light, both hedgehog and I froze until he suddenly made a bolt for a patch of long grass close by.
From that moment on we embarked on a year of nightly visits; we could almost set our watches to twilight and see the hog pop out from the undergrowth and run towards our gate, easily squeezing underneath to go roaming for the night round the town!
These visits were made even sweeter by discovering that the hedgehog had set up home in my greenhouse, choosing discarded tree fern fleeces as its bed. Apart from losing the use of my greenhouse all summer, I was enthralled with this little creature’s choice of home.
After spending many years only seeing the occasional hedgehog, heartbreakingly flattened at the side of the road, this full-of-beans hog brought hope for the future and a few nights we were even treated to two hedgehogs running around the garden together! And all because we joined the hedgehog highway by changing our gate.
No Mow
During 2020 I embraced Plantlife’s No Mow May and decided to leave our front lawn to grow long and see what happened… the results were staggering. When left to its own devices our lawn transformed into a carpet of glorious ox-eye daisies, bird’s foot trefoil, common mouse-ear, self-heal, hawkbit and dandelions, all glowing with colour and buzzing with insects.
Very quickly our garden became a magnet for bees, wasps, butterflies, hoverflies, ladybirds and a myriad of other winged insects and creepy-crawlies drawn to this mini oasis of life. It was fascinating to see how a fairly ordinary area could become a wildlife haven with the simple act of refraining from mowing the lawn.
Subsequently I extended No Mow May to Let It Bloom June and Knee High July, not only in our front garden but back too; this had a significant influence on drawing insects to the garden, which was great news for our local birds and bats!
I made a metre squared quadrant from bamboo poles and counted the flowers within, this gave me an ‘Every Flower Counts’ nectar score to measure the positive impact of my actions and discovered the nectar from our front lawn flowers could support 530 bees.
Some plant species are quick to flower whereas others need a bit more time to develop so if you have space stagger the time between mows in different parts of the garden. A mowed path will add structure and purpose to the space and emphasise the wild beauty of long grasses left to grow, then mow one section once a month and leave another for the duration of the summer; each will allow different plants to flourish.
A word of caution when mowing; be particularly mindful that wildlife will have had weeks to set up home and make the garden their own, so walk the area to make sure there are not resting hedgehogs, slowworms or frogs nestling in the long grass. Set the mower to a high setting; this will also avoid destroying ant hills or mining bee holes. Try to avoid using a grass trimmer.
97% of wildflower meadows disappearing from our countryside since the 1930’s makes shocking reading but we can turn this around; every garden can make a difference.
Little actions go a long way
Seeing direct results from our actions proves it is worth making the effort, however small. Little actions add up to a big impact en-masse.
Give wildlife a home, create habitat and access between gardens; even leaving out food and water as an extra incentive, particularly through the coldest months of the year. If we all made our properties accessible to wildlife, we can turn even the most urban areas into a habitat oasis.
Swap a brick wall for a hedge; living boundaries make a phenomenal difference to bringing life to your area. Plant trees and shrubs; not only do they provide food but also shelter. Plant a diverse range of flowers that bloom at different times of the year. Make a mini pond; however small your patch, a tub of rainwater is going to bring a wealth of new garden life and provide a water source. Start a compost heap. Pile up stones and dead wood; insects and amphibians will covet these spaces. Stop using chemicals in the garden; pesticides will destroy the delicate ecosystem you have created.
If you have a solid perimeter fence between gardens then why not have a chat with your neighbour and see about making a hedgehog sized hole in the fence to create a pathway to allow hedgehogs to roam free; breakdown housing estate barriers and develop a thriving home for wildlife. And give the lawnmower a break; ease back on the frequency of cutting the lawn and get a wonderful surprise when the biodiversity of creatures in your neighbour increases.
