Garden Wildlife
As more and more habitat loss occurs in the UK every year then our gardens become more and more important places for birds, bees, butterflies, mammals and other wildlife that visit them.
There is a lot can be done to improve a garden for nature to make it even more attractive to wildlife, such as:
A number of organisations have provided very useful tips for improving your garden for nature:
You can also download our information leaflets on how to create a wildflower meadow and how to make your garden wildlife-friendly.
Several wildlife organisations have also developed garden wildlife initiatives to encourage us to record garden wildlife and get more enjoyment out of our gardens.
Some of our Nature Notes cover aspects of garden wildlife:
As more and more habitat loss occurs in the UK every year then our gardens become more and more important places for birds, bees, butterflies, mammals and other wildlife that visit them.
There is a lot can be done to improve a garden for nature to make it even more attractive to wildlife, such as:
- planting wildlife friendly plants,
- adding a pond,
- leaving a part of the lawn to go "wild",
- putting up nesting boxes,
- providing food and water,
- and lots of other things besides
A number of organisations have provided very useful tips for improving your garden for nature:
- RSPB: Creating a wildlife-friendly garden
- Sussex Wildlife Trust: In your garden
- National Trust: Nine ways to build a wildlife friendly garden
- Buglife: Gardening for bugs
- RHS: Encourage wildlife to your garden
- WWT: How to create a bog garden for wildlife
- NHBS: Guide to Garden Wildlife
- Butterfly Conservation: Gardening with butterflies and moths in mind
- Wildlife Gardening Forum
You can also download our information leaflets on how to create a wildflower meadow and how to make your garden wildlife-friendly.
Several wildlife organisations have also developed garden wildlife initiatives to encourage us to record garden wildlife and get more enjoyment out of our gardens.
- The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) runs the Garden BirdWatch (GBW) all year round. It's a national-scale citizen project to record birds and other wildlife seen in your garden. During the COVID-19 pandemic the BTO introduced a free version of GBW that is still available.
- Another BTO project, Birdtrack, allows people to store and manage their own personal bird records as well as using these to support species conservation at local, regional, national and international scales. You could use this to start and maintain a list of species seen from your garden.
- Butterfly Conservation's Garden Butterfly Survey runs every year.
- The People's Trust for Endangered Species annual Living with Mammals survey continues.
- Add your garden hedgehog sightings to the Big Hedgehog Map
- The NHBS has drawn up a list of ten favourite spring garden activities for children
Some of our Nature Notes cover aspects of garden wildlife: