How can we encourage birds into our new garden?
MATT B SAYS You can create a bird-friendly habitat by providing nesting sites, perching places, food sources and places for them to hide from predators. Crataegus monogyna, our native hawthorn, has white flowers in spring and berries in autumn, and provides nesting sites protected by thorns. Pyracantha has similar virtues, with cultivars like ‘Saphyr Rouge’ that have red berries ripening to orange and is good as a shrub or hedge, and ‘Dart’s Red’, which is scab resistant and has matt-red fruits.
Trees with red fruit such as Sorbus aucuparia attract thrushes in winter and waxwings if you are lucky. Self-clinging climbers like ivy provide nesting and roosting sites for wrens and dunnocks, as well as a habitat for insects. Check out specialist nurseries that offer interesting and attractive ivy varieties.
Birds can also help with biological control, so add nesting boxes for blue tits, which eat caterpillars and aphids, and put out an anvil stone so thrushes can break open snails.