Traditionally, autumn has often been a time for cutting back, tidying and clearing in our gardens. But resisting the temptation to clear up can be hugely beneficial to our garden wildlife.
Take perennial flowers for example. Nowadays many gardeners choose to leave dead herbaceous plants and grasses over winter to provide structure to the garden, as well as shelter for wildlife. These can wait to be cut back next spring, around March time. Meanwhile the dead leaves, stems and flowers all contribute to giving nature a winter home. Plants with hollow or pithy stems (such as elder) provide a brilliant home for hibernating minibeasts and larvae. Adult ladybirds for example hibernate in hollow plant stems, sometimes clustering together in a large group. All species of ladybird in the UK hibernate (or diapause, as it is known for insects). They survive the cold winter months and accompanying food shortages by becoming dormant. They take shelter and enter a state of suspended animation, where their metabolism slows and their temperature drops.
Another benefit of not cutting back flowers in the autumn is to retain their seeds as a food source. Birds love to feed on seed heads like teasel, sunflowers and thistles. Thistle and teasel seeds are a particular favourite of goldfinches, whose fine beaks allow them to extract the otherwise inaccessible seeds. So leaving some of these plants in your garden is a much cheaper alternative to buying nyger seed to attract goldfinches!
Autumn leaves can look messy, but piled up in your garden and left to gently rot, they make a fantastic safe and warm winter home to all sorts wildlife. Leaves are another favourite location for ladybirds to diapause, as described above. Hedgehogs also love to hibernate in piles of leaves, whether piled up themselves or by us humans! The addition of some logs and twigs can make it an even more tempting location for hedgehogs.
European hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus, adult foraging in suitable place to hibernate
Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Windfall apples can provide a welcome food source to a wide range of garden wildlife. If they're left on the ground during the autumn and into the chill of winter, you may be treated to the sight of fieldfares and redwings enjoying a sweet treat. Apples are also eaten by mammals like badgers, hedgehogs, wood mice and voles, and they are a source of late-season sugar for butterflies, wasps, ants and other invertebrates.
So this autumn, have a look around your garden for potential hibernation sites and food sources, leave them well alone for now, and wait and see which mammals, birds and insects come to make their autumn and winter homes on your doorstep!