What simple things can I do to make my garden wildlife friendly?

[Watellz]

It's a medium sized garden.

No DC so can make it just for me and the wildlife.

Ideas please.

Bird feeders everywhere. Nesting boxes are great as well.

look at butterfly friendly plants.

fresh water available, shelter.

to be honest, it tends to find you.

lots of shaded areas, easy access, and food for whatever you want to attract and you will be overrun. Start a veg plot and then rabbits will appear.

bee friendly plants always lovely.

if near natural water frogs will appear if you introduced wet areas.

Depends on the size and location. Obvious one is lots of plants which are bee/butterfly friendly. Bird table, bird feeder, bird bath. Seeds in the summer and fat balls in the winter. Is it lawned? Could consider not mowing and sewing with wild flowers?

Can hedgehogs access it? If so consider suitable food for them, plus fresh water.

Lots of additional things like bug hotels and bird boxes will also help

So many things, i could write posts and posts about this! But start first with doing no harm, so:
Go peat free
Go chemical free
Be careful about the time of year which you trim hedges and long grass.

Then start thinking about how you can create habitats and corridors for wildlife. This is key, it's about habitat creation (ponds, dense hedges, areas of long grass, verticle vegetation, stupefied, bog areas) its definitely NOT about spending money on bird/bee/bug boxes at the garden centre, many of which are actually very poorly made rubbish that do more harm than good.

Look at you local Wildlife Trust for loads of tips. Some also have free award schemes which give lots of ideas.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Definitely a pond, whatever size works for your garden. A wildlife pond is very low maintenance because you don't want to disturb all the creatures in it. Do some googling about where to put it etc.

'mess' eg log/twig piles, leaf piles, undergrowth. Anything that isn't immaculate shaved lawn and flower beds which are more soil than plants.
Enjoy! I don't have a particularly big garden but have frogs, newts, hedgehogs, once saw a grass snake, occasional heron, plenty of birds and butterflies. I haven't had much success with bird feeders though, I think one of my neighbours puts out better food than me!

Put in a wildlife pond (no fish) and wait for frogs to move in.
Install a rainwater butt to top up the pond.
Reduce mowing; try to ensure there’s always a good-sized patch of longer grass.
Don’t worry about clover, daisies, buttercups etc in the lawn.
Leave a pile of dead branches and sticks at the back for a wildlife habitat. If you have room leave a patch for nettles.
Don’t use pesticides.
Leave water out for wildlife.
Feed the birds.
Plant for insects. They love buddleias and lavenders. Single bloom flowers are better for insects than double blooms because they are more accessible.
Dense hedges and shrubs provide cover and habitats.
Bear in mind that native species of plants will attract more insect species than non-native specimens when choosing new plants for the garden.
Remember just because it is wildlife-friendly doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful.
Have fun.

Also don't be disappointed if you don't actually see much wildlife - a really wildlife friendly garden has lots of hiding places for everything to do its own thing in peace.
Totally agree with PP not to go out and buy loads of specific wildlife stuff (except maybe some pond liner to make a pond).
A bit like being environmentally friendly is more about using old Tupperware that's been in the cupboard for years rather than going out and buying whatever the new 'eco' brand is.

Bird feeders spread disease. Better to have plants like ivy that provide birds with food when there isn’t much else around in the winter.

Don't sweep up too often.

Less weeding.

Do no harm - so buy in as little as possible, as itll be in plastic or peat or chemical.
A pond.
A dead hedge (like a fence made of fallen branches)
A clover lawn.
Nettles (sorry!)
Night scented flowersblike nicotiana for moths
No dig

Definitely have shallow dishes of water out. Buddleia, lavender and heathers are all loved by the butterfly and bees.

Bird feeder and water bath. Birds and animals drink from the bird bath when its hot.
Bee and butterfly friendly plants. There's a type of ivy that bees and butterflies love in September ..
A wild area/corner in the garden if you have room. A compost area to chuck your glass clippings/ dead branches of wood. This is a good habitat for stag beetles.

So much good advice and taking on board that I don't need to buy more stuff; use what I have and don't be tidy. Love the idea of the wildlife finding my garden.

Make a small hedgehog-sized hole in the bottom of your fence in a far corner.

Water for birds and hedgehogs, essential in high summer and frozen winters.
Teasel, the bees and goldfinches will love you. Spiders make fab webs on them in autumn.
Couple of shrubs.
Small tree.
Shady area.

My frontage was all gravel when I moved in, I got rid of it all and put micro clover seed down. There are now bees and ladybirds everywhere (and it looks so much nicer too). I've also made a stumpery in one partially shady corner of the back garden which is crawling with life. Also in the back I inherited some dry stone walls around raised flower beds, and I have noticed over winter loads of newts and frogs hibernate in those walls (despite there being no pond).

Make a pollinator drinking station. Bees often drown trying to drink from water that is too deep. All you need is a saucer and some pebbles from your flower beds. Put the pebbles in the saucer and put water so that it goes approx half way up the pebbles. That way they can land on the pebbles and drink without drowning. Remember to top up regularly

I love that every time I move a pot there's a million woodlice underneath.
I like to have places where there are no earthy gaps between plants iyswim. Big patches of comfrey are great for cover and for the bees if you have a large garden. Nettles are great.
The wood pigeons love the bird bath. The hedgehog house is tucked away in a place that the hedgehogs would enjoy rather than sitting in plain view to advertise how eco I am. Think about positioning of nesting boxes and vary them as different species have different requirements.
I do find insect houses with the cut bamboo are well used by leaf cutter bees here.
Never use poisons/ slug pellets etc.
Usually I find the damper parts of the garden most filled with bug life. So where we may not like damp shade so much, it is important.
I find it important that measures that attract small mammals are sited further from the house as mice and rats indoors are not recommended!

You don’t have to buy new plants but if you do, a ceanothus bush is great for bees, as well as looking lovely. I had one in a previous garden and it literally buzzed, the bees loved it so much. Now I only have a balcony but the bumblebees are going mad for the orange geraniums and marigolds this year.

The very best thing you can do is put in a wildlife pond.

Our local wildlife group will come around and put a hedgehog hole on a fence for you and they don’t charge, although obviously a donation would always be welcomed.

Our garden is alive with wildlife.

We have nesting boxes, roosting boxes, bee and insect houses, a pond, a bird table, a bird bath, bird feeders dotted throughout trees, copious plants (and weeds) including lavender beds that the bees love.

I don’t think most people need to ‘do’ anything as such to make their gardens wildlife-friendly. As a PP said, most of the time, it finds you. IMO there’s so much virtue-signalling especially from mainstream media about this topic, when the reality is that a traditional garden will be wildlife-friendly anyway - birds, insects, squirrels & many more. That being said, if yours is paved over or is grass and.not much else, then it may need a helpline hand.

1. No chemicals.
2. Put in a pond or container pond.
3. Plant a range of plants that have different flower shapes and flower at different times of the year.

A log pile, good for frogs, ground nesting birds and encourages worms/insects for them to feed on.