Attracting wildlife to suburban garden.

[Abreezeitheglade]

I recently moved to a house with an entirely paved garden. I’m gradually pulling up the slabs and would love to make it into a garden which attracts as much wildlife as possible. Any tips for planting gratefully received. I’m thinking of flower, hedges and maybe a pond.

Following for planting tips.
I have a bird table and hanging feeders plus a bird bath, i get loads of birds, in winter i put out fat blocks/peanuts, autumn/winter/spring sunflower hearts. I also occasionally put out mealworm on the table which goes in minutes.
Not nice but look out for dark tar like poo, that would mean a hedgehog, i have gaps under my fences where they've scraped the gravel and mud away to make a walkway, i put out meaty cat biscuits under a plastic box (to stop cats getting to them) when i know they are out.

Lavender really attracts bees. I love it.

Bird feeders are a quick win to get wildlife into the garden. We have a few feeders and every morning, they are empty and the birds are calling for them to be filled which is lovely. I also have a few nesting boxes up on walls which are always popular.
In terms of flowers, I have loads of lavender which attracted hundreds of bees and butterflies, is long flowering and takes very little effort from me. I think it is recommended to cut it down in mid-late summer but I think it is such a shame while the flowers are still there for the bees so I leave it until the flowers start to die in late September.
Wildflowers also help to bring more bugs and bees to the garden but I seem to have trouble getting these to always grow.

A pond will attract lots of insect snd amphibian life, but there are safety implications if you have toddlers.
Buddleia is very popular with butterflies - particularly red admirals, for some reason!
When putting out bird food, mealworms are a good source of protein, and blackbirds appreciate cut up fruit such as apples. Seeds will attract a large variety of songbirds.
Provide a flat stone where thrushes can crack their snails open to eat.
Make a small hole through the bottom of your fence, or dig a wee tunnel under it, to allow hedgehogs to get in and out of your garden.
A nest box will attract breeding birds, but don’t put it in full sun where the nestlings could overheat in summer.
Don’t put out food late in the evening, you will attract rats and mice overnight. Unless you include vermin in “wildlife”!

For us a pond made a massive difference. It attracts birds for a drink and a bath and we often get insects in for a drink as well (e.g. bees that perch on the edge for a drink).

The 'classic; suggestion is for single, easy to get to flowers. So not so many of the fsncy double varieties you get. Sunflowers are a hit with bees and then birds once they go to seed.

The other thing was not tidying up very much this last winter. Normally I'd have cut everything back in late autumn, tidy for the winter. This year I've left most things and will cut back when they start growing again. We've always put feeders out but this winter we've had so many birds in the garden, rooting around among last year's flower stalks etc.

A range of habitat is good. So a small pile of logs, a small pile of rocks, some straw stuffed behind a shrub, that kind of thing. When we prune trees, we tend to put a small pile of trimmings away in a corner somewhere for something to make use of.

A little bit later in the year and we put the dog's grooming clippings out as well - for nesting material.

My garden is mostly concrete so most of my plants are in pots. I grow sunflowers every year and have lavender, hydrangeas, roses and viburnum. There are lots of online sources where you can search plants with specific requirements such as good for wildlife and evergreen/good for north facing/acidic soil etc.

As well as the actual plants, hanging a bird feeder and a bird box is really helpful (just make sure the bird box faces North or East or is in a sheltered position so it doesn't get too hot in the sun.) The RSPB has good advice on their website about positioning a bird box. I also have a bird feeder and a couple of bug hotels but you can easily make your own!

A log pile is a good idea and generally not tidying up things too quickly, leaving leaves etc for a bit for some natural cover and to provide an extra habitat.

Ponds are brilliant (as long as they're child proof if that's relevant.) I'm currently researching how to build a container pond given I'm gardening on concrete but even a small amount of water can be helpful.

A wildlife pond can be just a sunken plastic barrel/pre-shaped mini-pond.
Make it child safe by putting rebar over it and stapling it down. It rusts very nicely and plants grow through it.
Make sure there's an exit from the pond for frogs, and vary the surface so pebbles break the water and bees can have a drink.

Fresh clean water is what they need the most. I tuck metal dog bowls here & there and fill them daily.

Don't use pesticides of any sort.

Per @BlackbeardsToast , not tidying in fall is crucial. My garden looks a mess but I know all those piles of leaves and stalks are a healthy eco system hopefully teeming with insects. Don't clear up until temperatures are reliably above 50 degrees. It's hard to wait, but worth it.

Please don't put bird food out, it's of no conservation benefit and it's actually causing harm to declining bird species. All it does is increase the numbers of already common birds like blue tits, great tits etc which then outcompete threatened species like marsh tits, willow tits and some summer migrants. Large amounts are also eaten by pest species like rats and grey squirrels.

Just improve the habitat - more ponds, trees, shrubs, flowers, deadwood... These are much more useful to insects and other species. Birds are perfectly capable of feeding themselves if the habitat and invertebrate prey is there.

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^^ Possibly relevant? Hope the links work. I find the Sarah Raven podcasts really accessible and easy to listen to, as a not-very-experienced gardener. You don’t need to actually buy stuff from her (I know plants are often cheaper elsewhere).

I’ve been to the garden centre and got the Buddhist, a climbing rose, 6 lavenders and a Jasmine. Busy arranging some logs. Still pondering the pond as I have a four year old.

According to the British Trust for Ornithology, “There is a scientific evidence highlighting the positive effects that the provision of supplementary food can have on birds. For example, the provision of supplementary food has been shown to improve overwinter survival in a number of species.”

The key is not to be tidy! I leave all seed heads and last years growth until v late Feb before I cut back..it also looks beautiful in the frost.
Try to have flowers for a long period. So start the year with bulbs (snowdrops, crocuses, daffs (single forms) etc. Then lots of different flowers ovet a long time and different shapes. Verbena bonasoris is an amazing plant that flowers from May to the first frosts.
A pond if poss. A four year old can be taught easily about the dangers.
Log piles, leave leaves lying on soil to rot down, composy heaps, bug hotel.
Bird feeders are fine. If you live in suburbia birds need all the help they can get.

How big is your garden. You can get sowing now,cheap as chips, cosmos, poppies, calendula,open cup flowers for the pollinators. Get the 4 year old involved. I think everything else is covered here

Kate bradbury has done a brilliant book on wildlife gardening and gardeners world starts in a few weeks.

the tricky bit is maintaining something all year round and a variety for different insects. Remember to plant the right plants in the right place, E.g there’s no point putting lavender in if it’s a shady spot. Rhs plant finder is great for that.

Make the pond hedgehog safe, that way it will be 4-yo safe too.

www.gardenersworld.com/plants/10-ways-to-help-hedgehogs/

Didn't you actually read what I wrote? Bird feeding is increasing populations of non-threatened common species at the expense of rarer ones which are declining, in part because they are being outcompeted by the common species which are receiving all the extra food.

Improving the habitat benefits a whole range of species; bird feeding just inflates numbers of a few common species (including rats and squirrels) and makes people feel that they're 'helping nature' when actually they're doing the opposite.

@Lucanus, I'm interested in what you're saying about feeding birds. Do you have any sources please?

Bird seed attracts rats and any spillages end up being strange weeds.
A shallow bowl of water will attract wildlife.
Buddleia is invasive
Lots of flowers but not double bloom types.
Trees and climbers are popular with birds

To support bees plant early pollen rich bulbs and plants like crocus and wallflowers for the spring and ivy (don’t cut it back or you will lose the flower heads) and sedum for late autumn, this extends the season ,especially important in spring when slightly warm weather can fool them into emerging too early. Have shallow sources of water available to them in hot weather, a dish with large pebbles in it is ideal.

Encourage other small invertebrates by making simple bug hotels. Don’t be too rigorous about clearing fallen leaves. Make sure your soil is kept fertile and open by making your own compost. If you make sure the lower end of the food chain is secure with food sources and shelter then that will encourage a wider variety of larger wildlife to come.

Completely this. Start at the bottom by looking after the soil and smallest creatures and everything else will come.

Budleigh isn't invasive! You just need to prune it hard about now every year to control its size. It doesn't self seed or spread just gets big unless controlled with pruning.

Couple of papers here:
Faecal metabarcoding reveals pervasive long-distance impacts of garden bird feeding
Killing with kindness: Does widespread generalised provisioning of wildlife help or hinder biodiversity conservation efforts?

There are also disease transmission issues causing the decline of species like Greenfinch and Chaffinch - cleaning of feeders doesn't change the underlying fact that they lead to the unnatural aggregation of large numbers of individuals of different species.

It's a subject that needs a lot more research. But fundamentally as I see it, if the underlying habitat is good then birds should do just fine without needing extra food. And if the habitat isn't good enough, then feeding just masks the underlying problem by making it look as if wildlife is thriving when it really isn't.

The question of whether feeding birds has any benefits is complex. This BTO blog is worth a read: www.bto.org/community/blog/garden-birds-feed-or-not-feed

Regardless, the argument for providing natural food sources & habitats still stands. A few years ago, I started off with a garden that was just grass and no matter how much food I put out, most birds simply weren’t interested as there was nowhere for them to take shelter in case the local sparrow hawk showed up! I planted a fair few medium sized shrubs and they can’t get enough of my garden now!

For insects, it’s especially good to have some plants that flower really early or really late in the season when other food sources are scarce. I don’t know how much space you have, but if you have space for a small fruit tree like a crab apple that’s worth considering (early pollen for the insects + fruit for the birds). Ornamental thistles are really good too - flowers and seeds and if you don’t cut off the flower heads, good for nesting material too!