Birds and bats
■ A rich surrounding habitat of trees, shrubs and flowers provides birds with a diet of insects, fruits and seeds.
■ Nesting is encouraged with bird boxes for tits or sparrows. Always fix high up a tree or a wall and position out of bright sunshine – and out of the reach of cats and foxes!
■ Why not set up a bird bath and keep it well stocked with water. ■ Open-fronted boxes are best for robins and wrens, who need to be low down, but well hidden among vegetation.
■ You can provide roosting places for bats, with bat boxes, holes in trees, or crevices in buildings.
■ If you have bats flying over your garden, you may want to invest in a bat detector to help you identify the species.