Making your garden a haven for wildlife

A NEW booklet to help everyone to help wildlife in their gardens, no matter how big or small, has been launched and is available from the Heritage Office of Wicklow County Council.

The booklet was produced by Local Authority Heritage Officers across Ireland, with help from the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Heritage Council.

Deirdre Burns, Heritage Officer with Wicklow County Council, said: ‘We are all becoming much more conscious of nature on our doorstep and more people than ever are taking an interest in the birds, bees and bugs that are visiting their gardens. County Wicklow is known as the Garden of Ireland and we hope that this little guide will help anyone who has the time and interest now to make their garden a haven for wildlife.’

The guide outlines actions that can be taken to improve gardens for birds, bees, butterflies, bats and more. Just leaving an ‘untidy’ corner of your garden for nature, leaving roadside verges to grow naturally or allowing some of the gold star plants for biodiversity - dandelion, willow, bramble, clover, ivy to thrive in a small patch of your garden can reap huge dividends for wildlife.

Author of the guide, Juanita Browne, said: ‘I hope that this simple guide to gardening with biodiversity in mind will help all of us to create gardens that are more wildlife-friendly. Gardening for biodiversity doesn’t equate to letting your garden go wild, but simply doing things a little differently. For instance, when choosing plants to buy in a garden centre, perhaps you could choose plants that have insects on their flowers. Or you could create a wildflower strip around your lawn where dandelions, daisies, clover and other wildflowers are allowed to grow. These small changes can bring huge benefits for biodiversity.’

The book also contains stepby-step guidance on how to build a bird bath, create a log pile for hedgehogs and mini beasts, and how to install a pond or bog garden.