Give other garden wildlife a boost

To attract more birds to your garden, a holistic approach, encouraging all sorts of wildlife, pays dividends. During spring and summer, there are plenty of things you can do to improve your garden for all sorts of creatures

MAKE A 1 BEE HOTEL

Help our pollinators by putting up bee homes. Those for solitary bees, consisting of tubes and tunnels within boxes, work particularly well. But you don’t even have to buy one – cut the top off a plastic 2-litre pop bottle, then stuff it with corrugated cardboard, twigs, bamboo, etc. South-facing positions, hanging at chest height or above, are best. Bees usually colonise these homes in spring.

HELP A 'HOG 2

Hedgehogs need your help even during the warmer months. For a start, they have young to feed, and also need plenty of food themselves as they forage. Don’t put out bread or milk, as people often used to – good quality cat or dog food is far better, or raw minced meat mixed with raw egg.

CREATE A WOODPILE 3

These give shelter to small invertebrates such as centipedes and ground beetles, which then eat slugs and other garden pests at night. Even a small pile of twigs can pay off. Start building it early in the spring, and by the end of the summer you’ll also have a habitat in which insects can shelter during the winter.

ENCOURAGE INSECTS 4

Hoverflies and ladybirds are good garden ‘pestcatchers’, and hoverflies do not sting even though they look similar to wasps. Marigolds can be planted to attract them. But wasps themselves can also play a part – they are good controllers of many garden 'pests', including flies and grubs, as well as being useful pollinators of flowers.

BUILD A BAT BOX 5

By June, bats will be breeding. While eaves and fascias are used, you can help them and your house by putting up bat boxes (south-facing locations work best) as early as possible in the spring.

TOLERATE A BIT OF MESS 6

Mowing your lawn half as often, or leaving a patch completely unmown, helps insects, while weeds only need to be removed if they’re actually harming your other plants.

GIVE 7 REPTILES A HIDEAWAY

Corrugated iron or plastic laid flat on a sunny border can provide hiding places for reptiles. Don’t be tempted to disturb them, though.

8 LAST, BUT NOT LEAST, CREATE A POND!

• Give at least one side of it a long, shallow slope, to allow easy access for wildlife, and on steep sides place wooden or stone ramps. A few large, flat stones on the sloping side will create a perfect habitat for amphibians/insects. • Shading over part of the pond helps reduce problems with algae, but too much shade is not good for wildlife, so keep an eye on overhanging vegetation. • Mid-spring through to early summer are the best times for planting your wildlife pond, as the water will have warmed a little and plants will have started growing. Early autumn, though, is the best time for maintenance, before amphibians go into hibernation. • Don’t be too hasty about topping up the pond during dry weather, but if you do, try to use rainwater from a butt. • Around 25-35% open water is perfect for a wildlife pond, so don’t clear too much vegetation or algae. Barley straw is the best way to keep the latter under control. • Let the plants at the side grow unhindered so that frogs, toads and newts have safe hiding places. Take extra care when working or mowing there.