There is nowhere in the world closer to my heart than the garden of the house I grew up in. My mum never believed in keeping it spotlessly tidy, so there were always large areas of over grown grass, piles of trimmed branches left to fester, and wild scrubby areas left untamed around the edges. To the neighbours, I’m sure it was seen as an eyesore, but for wildlife it was a fantastic place to thrive, much to my delight as a child, and even now, when I get the chance to go back and visit.
Now living and working at Coombes Valley nature reserve, I have a rival for the top spot of my favourite place in the world. It’s a bit like my garden at home, but on a grander scale, in that it provides a variety of great habitats for wildlife to flourish.
Image by Rachel Coyle
The RSPB’s new campaign is all about providing spaces for nature, whether on a grand scale like on our reserves or in small areas like your garden at home. There are so many things you can do to encourage wildlife in to your garden. I thought I would tell you a bit about how we manage for wildlife at the reserve, and how you can achieve this on a smaller scale in your garden at home.
The key to gardening for wildlife is creating a range of habitats, providing niches for a wider variety of species.
At Coombes we aim to provide a habitat structure which benefits a wide variety of species by creating graduating edges between open spaces and woodland.
Image by Ian Myatt
This may be quite a challenge, unless you wish to completely renovate your garden, however, you could create a hedge line or flowerbed border on the edge of your lawn.
Flowering plants will provide nectar sources to a whole host of insects throughout the summer months allowing you to enjoy a splash of colour from nectar swilling butterflies as well as from the flowers themselves.
Image by Eleanor Bentall (rspb images)
Hedgerows act as excellent wildlife corridors, connecting gardens and making it easier for wildlife to move between. One of our most iconic species the hedgehog has been struggling in recent years due to loss of these hedgerow habitats throughout the countryside. Why not give them a helping hand in your garden?!
Throughout the winter, we fell areas of trees throughout the woodland to improve the habitat for our summer visitors, such as the redstart and pied flycatcher. The majority of vegetation and logs produced are left in situ in habitat piles. These piles make great homes for all sorts of invertebrates and small mammals and as the deadwood starts to breakdown fantastic fungi starts to appear.
Image by Andy Hay (rspb images)
This can be easily replicated in any garden, though, if you’re not keen on leaving piles of vegetation all over the place there are other ways you can provide a home for wildlife. For those handy with a hammer you could craft your own bug or hedgehog box to put out.
Some of the older trees we have on the reserve provide particularly good habitat for bats at this time of year, with the large cracks and crevices allowing for cosy roosting places throughout the winter.
Even if you don’t have any large trees in your garden you could always put out a bat box in a sheltered spot. When the warmer weather returns, you will be able to enjoy the sight of them swooping around your garden at dusk.
For more ideas on how to encourage wildlife into your garden, follow the link to the RSPB’s giving nature a home webpage at http://homes.rspb.org.uk/