The first thing people think of when they talk about backyard wildlife are wild birds. With common species such as Pidgeon, sparrow, starling and thrush to the less common woodpecker, wren and finch, all of them are fun to watch and feed. The best way to attract them is to provide lots of tasty morsels. Bird feeders placed strategically around what available space you have is a sure fire way to find some feathered friends. If you have a large space, bird tables with suet and other bird foods are a good place to start, with hangers and feeders dotted around other areas, such as patios and trees. If your space is limited, there are various window hangers and feeders that will fix neatly on most windows and allow for a close up view of the birds' feeding habits.
However, often an overlooked aspect of feeding birds is what some species naturally eat, bugs of course! Insects help to keep any garden healthy, with bees pollinating and predatory bugs such as ladybirds keeping pesky aphids and the like away, maintaining a careful balance will make any garden thrive. A vast array of bugs will also invite more birds to your garden and help out many of our rarer breeds. If you have a large space, planting fragranced flowers in medium patches will attract bees and butterflies, with some useful plants being buddleja, geranium, hyacinth, lavender, dandelion, clover and nettles. You may even want to keep a 'wild patch' an area where you can allow plants seen as weeds to grow, while mainting it and keeping it tidy. This will allow a huge number of catapillars and later butterflies to frequent there and bring a spot of colour to the garden. If you have a smaller space you can try pot plants or window boxes filled with some butterfly attracting plants or even place a 'bug box' or two. A bug box is a small wooden box, much like a nesting box, but its usually filled with hollowed wooden canes. This makes a perfect place for non aggressive pollinating bees, such as the solitary mining bee, which are becoming rarer and rarer in the UK.
Boxes in general are a good idea to place in the garden. Smaller areas will benefit from a few nesting boxes. You might even want to introduce bat boxes in higher areas, as bats are superb insect catchers and will help keep annoying midges and mosquitoes away. In larger areas, leaving hedgehog boxes in secluded areas will be a nice way to keep some spikey critters around, which will help to keep slugs and snails down too! Of course, you don't have to invest in boxes, a pile of dry twigs and leaves in a secluded area will allow for hedgehogs and maybe even lizards to take refuge. Generally keeping a maintined 'wild' space full of wildflowers and large stones and branches will allow for some interesting animals to make their homes in your back garden.
However, if you intend to attract wildlife, you should also be aware of what you need to do in order to keep away unwanted visitors. If you feed your birds its generally not a good idea to leave food on the floor as this can attract rats. While you are bound to get some rodents in your garden, you want to minimise that so don't leave too many built up areas and those that you do have, make sure to maintain and check occasionaly. Also be careful where you place any nesting boxes, bats in the roof may not be so pleasant! Leaving food out for hedgehogs, badgers or foxes is also not advised. While they are a joy to watch most of the food available (such as cat food which is commonly given to hedgehogs) isnt nutritionally correct. Some wild life specific foods are available from pet shops and garden centres. You will also find that some larger animals, such as foxes will become dependent on you and your food source, bad if you can no longer provide for them and also bad if they start raiding dustbins!
All in all, if you are careful with how you do it, inviting a vast array of local wildlife will be great for you, your garden and the wildlife population in your area. A fantastic win win situation for all!
However, often an overlooked aspect of feeding birds is what some species naturally eat, bugs of course! Insects help to keep any garden healthy, with bees pollinating and predatory bugs such as ladybirds keeping pesky aphids and the like away, maintaining a careful balance will make any garden thrive. A vast array of bugs will also invite more birds to your garden and help out many of our rarer breeds. If you have a large space, planting fragranced flowers in medium patches will attract bees and butterflies, with some useful plants being buddleja, geranium, hyacinth, lavender, dandelion, clover and nettles. You may even want to keep a 'wild patch' an area where you can allow plants seen as weeds to grow, while mainting it and keeping it tidy. This will allow a huge number of catapillars and later butterflies to frequent there and bring a spot of colour to the garden. If you have a smaller space you can try pot plants or window boxes filled with some butterfly attracting plants or even place a 'bug box' or two. A bug box is a small wooden box, much like a nesting box, but its usually filled with hollowed wooden canes. This makes a perfect place for non aggressive pollinating bees, such as the solitary mining bee, which are becoming rarer and rarer in the UK.
Boxes in general are a good idea to place in the garden. Smaller areas will benefit from a few nesting boxes. You might even want to introduce bat boxes in higher areas, as bats are superb insect catchers and will help keep annoying midges and mosquitoes away. In larger areas, leaving hedgehog boxes in secluded areas will be a nice way to keep some spikey critters around, which will help to keep slugs and snails down too! Of course, you don't have to invest in boxes, a pile of dry twigs and leaves in a secluded area will allow for hedgehogs and maybe even lizards to take refuge. Generally keeping a maintined 'wild' space full of wildflowers and large stones and branches will allow for some interesting animals to make their homes in your back garden.
However, if you intend to attract wildlife, you should also be aware of what you need to do in order to keep away unwanted visitors. If you feed your birds its generally not a good idea to leave food on the floor as this can attract rats. While you are bound to get some rodents in your garden, you want to minimise that so don't leave too many built up areas and those that you do have, make sure to maintain and check occasionaly. Also be careful where you place any nesting boxes, bats in the roof may not be so pleasant! Leaving food out for hedgehogs, badgers or foxes is also not advised. While they are a joy to watch most of the food available (such as cat food which is commonly given to hedgehogs) isnt nutritionally correct. Some wild life specific foods are available from pet shops and garden centres. You will also find that some larger animals, such as foxes will become dependent on you and your food source, bad if you can no longer provide for them and also bad if they start raiding dustbins!
All in all, if you are careful with how you do it, inviting a vast array of local wildlife will be great for you, your garden and the wildlife population in your area. A fantastic win win situation for all!
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