pretty wildlife in my garden

[MissMartin1992]

Hello everyone I've just moved house and im working on my back garden to make it beautiful for the summer there is already so much wildlife there but i want to make it a home for more, just this morning i saw bumble bees, honey bees a beautiful butterfly, a feild mouse with big ears, a yellow tit and a robin and that was in about 1 hour, i have my rabbit enclosure and i really want to put in a fish pond to bring frogs ect aswell. I have a masonic hall at the back of me with massive grounds where weddings are held so theres lots of trees and i will be putting in lots of plants and flowers, do you have any ideas of wildlife attracting plants ect or any ideas on how i can attract more animals .. Thanks so much

That's a peacock butterfly. Aren't they gorgeous?

One thing that would be worth doing would be devoting part of your garden - maybe the bit at the back near the Masonic grounds - to a tiny wildflower meadow. This does NOT mean just letting stuff grow at random! It's actually quite an art to get a decent flower meadow established and to maintain it - for example, you need to encourage plants like yellow rattle that suppress thuggish weeds which will take over and kill everything if you're not careful. Check this out for some pointers: plantwild.co.uk/meadows/how-to-create-a-wild-flower-meadow/ It's so much fun and will provide a habitat not only for all kinds of insects but possibly also for things like hedgehogs (especially if you leave piles of logs or leaves undisturbed over the winter).

Then in the more 'gardeny' bit, you can plant things that attract insects. It depends a bit which way your garden faces, but buddleia are excellent for attracting butterflies (that's why they are nicknamed the 'butterfly bush'). They can get a bit straggly and leggy, so look out for the more compact patio varieties. Simple, single flowers (i.e not fussier double flowers) are great for bees - these tend to be older, native varieties. Limnanthes or the 'poached egg' plant is a good one for them - you can buy a pack of seeds for this from Aldi for 39p at the moment, and you sow them direct in the ground. Honeysuckle is a good climber to have, and you could plant viper's bugloss as well, which is renowned for bringing clouds of bees into the garden. Leave clover to grow in your lawn - it's beautiful when it flowers and bees love it too. If you have shade, bluebells work well.

Putting out food for bird, and growing things like sunflowers and teasle will bring them in. They are lovely to watch! You may find a few squirrels trying to steal the food too, which is lovely.

shovetheholly - I real apreciate all that infomation you have have me sounds like you really know your stuff. . Thanks so much i have very high fence at the back and you mention honeysuckle is a good climber... should i mesh the fence so it has something to grip onto? .. i would love to have hedgeshogs but my garden had no way they could get in as i had my rabbits loose until i built they're pen so every where is blocked off the garden it's self is really secure! The meadow idea sounds lovley aswell my garden isnt massive but its pretty big so im sure that will look lovley somewhere. . i think it think be nice to have all types of wild flowers .. Once again Thanks

Yes, I would put some mesh or trellis up there. Most climbers will appreciate a bit of help, and some can't support themselves. It also means you can buy more climbers to grow up there! Look out in Aldi this Thursday - lots of climbers including honeysuckle for £1.79 each. But check the varieties out and decide before you go to the store, because they aren't all very hardy, so if you expect snow in the winter, some will do better than others. The honeysuckle should be fine though).

Even a small meadow/wildlife area can host a surprising number of species, so even if you don't have a huge garden it is worth doing. Also, if you stick to organic gardening methods elsewhere in your plot and plant nice deep borders with lots of plants in them, you will see the number of birds and insects go up as the nectar and habitat increases. I don't have a wildlife area in my back garden, but in the last 3 years since I started cultivating it, the number of varieties of birds has exploded - brought in by the worms and insects I think!

Oh, and you can get a free guide on wildlife gardening from the RSPB -details here homes.rspb.org.uk/?gclid=CjwKEAjw0q2pBRC3jrb24JjE8VgSJAAyIzAdP-2xUOvrqq53ia2_7rPnVc2C7_cMipBzyA2oYuGOfxoCXNTw_wcB