Tips for Attracting Wildlife to Your Garden
As we start to see signs of spring all around us, I am sure you are looking forward to getting out and about. The promise of walks with family and friends, warmer and drier days feels even more important this year. I have to admit I’ll be glad to get out of my wellies!
It’s well proven that being connected with nature has a huge number of benefits. From exercise releasing endorphins to mindfulness improving mental health. Spending time outside without screens but with family and friends is something many of us learnt to appreciate in the last 12 months. In Japan doctors have been prescribing ‘forest bathing’ for it’s psychological and health benefits for decades.
One thing we have also learnt in lockdown is, that if we can’t get out, we can bring nature closer to home and attract wildlife into our gardens.
5 Top tips for how to welcome wildlife to your garden
Wildwood Devon have nature in bucket loads at their site near Honiton in East Devon. From wolves to wild cats there is plenty of exciting native wildlife. It’s also a haven for smaller animals such as red squirrels, dormice and birds.
Senior keeper at Wildwood, Ben Gregory, shares a selection of the best tips to welcome wildlife to your back garden at this time of year. Now spring is coming and it will be warmer to be outside, these are great activities for all ages to have fun with.
1.Make a bug and wildlife hotel
A really easy activity is a to build bug hotel. Collecting piles of rocks or bricks, twigs and rotting wood in your garden to creates shelter for everything from important insects like beetles and spiders to hedgehogs, toads and mice.
This is a firm favourite with mini-explorers as it offers the chance to get their hands a bit dirty and see what they can spot. If you have more space then a stack of pallets or wood separated with stones or tiles is a great option.
2. Plant YOUR GARDEN for wildlife
Design part of your garden around wildlife. From flowers such as lavender and snap dragons for bees to fruit trees and bushes for birds and butterflies.
Hedges and shrubs can form protection and offer shelter for birds and bugs.
Many species can be planted in early spring which makes now the perfect time for a family planting day. Sunflowers are another popular flower if you have the patience to watch them grow. Last year my neighbour grew sunflowers from her birdseed! Get the kids involved, then spend the spring and summer seeing what you can spot. You can even create your own wildlife-spotting checklists.
3. Build a home for nesting birds
Buy or build your own nest boxes to help wild birds raise this spring’s chicks. Hang them high and sheltered, where cats can’t reach them and enjoy seeing the next generation of feathered garden visitors grow up. There are lots of templates online CLICK HERE for some ideas.
If you don’t have a suitable place for a box, you can enjoy seeing the birds in your garden by feeding them. Some birds like blackbirds feed on the ground, blue tits and finches like feeders or bird table birds. Seeds, peanuts and suet fat balls are all popular.
4. Create a hedgehog highway
Help hedgehogs in their nightly search for food by creating small holes in the base of fences and walls so they can move freely between gardens and allotments. 13cm by 13cm is sufficient. Chat with your neighbours so you know there is a good route in place. They also like to hide under piles of leaves logs.
Make it fun for kids by making and setting up little signs saying things like ‘hedgehogs this way’ then seeing if you can spot one during an evening. Don’t forget you mustn’t feed hedgehogs bread and milk, leave out dog or cat food instead (not fish based).
5. Keep a Wild Area
The wilder and more untamed your garden or space is, the more wildlife can thrive there. A little goes a long way, so even if you love a perfectly manicured garden, leaving just one area a little wild will have a huge impact on local wildlife, helping it to survive and thrive. Wild doesn’t mean ugly though, add wild flowers, bird boxes or a bird table to keep it interesting.
Attracting Wildlife to Your Garden
“The beauty of this is that everyone can make a difference and play their part,” explained George Hyde, General Manager at Wildwood Escot.
He continues; “Our ecosystems are all connected, so when you help a hedgehog, for instance, many other species automatically benefit too. By letting your patch become a little more wild, you can create fantastic ripple effects which will be felt by so many of your local wild neighbours.
During the pandemic, many people have relied on their daily walks and felt a stronger connection to nature than ever before. It’s widely considered that getting outside and being closer to nature has a positive impact on mental health. By attracting wildlife to our gardens we recreate that in our own spaces, holding on to that feeling in our everyday lives once society returns to normal.
Whether you’re the owner of a tiny balcony or a huge garden space, everyone can connect with nature and wildlife through simple steps to create a wilder environment in their patch”.
Wildlife conservation charity and park, Wildwood Devon, focuses on conserving and protecting British wildlife past and present. It is a lovely place to visit and also has a sister park in Kent. For Wildwood Devon CLICK HERE
If you would like to find out more about our day out at Wildwood Devon take a look at my write-up HERE. We can really recommend it.
More Links: The Marvellous Mrs P has shown that you can create something really beautiful just by scattering wild flower seeds, her family and are very happy to have made a fairy gardens where their chickens used to be. Sally who writes at All The Grows has some specific advice for planting flowers for butterflies and Easy Peasy Greeny has some great ideas for getting children involved.
Once you have made your garden a haven for wildlife then it’s time to sit back a quietly relax. What better way than to chill out in a hammock, it’s one of the most gently ways to enjoy your garden and enjoy the peaceful environment you have created.
This is a collaborative guest post. Images are my own or from Canva Pro / Freepix.
Hi! I am Clare and I live in glorious East Devon with my family.
Join me in finding new places to explore in the West Country as well as further afield.
I hope you enjoy reading and taking inspiration from this website. 
