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Adrian Thomas

And so here is Wildlife Friendly's second installment, and what a mouth-watering range of wildlife and flowers her garden supports...Oh, and I must point out before I take false credit, all the photos are hers too! Adrian

Wildlife wows:

  • Grass snakes (right) breed in the compost bins.
  • Frogs, Toads, newts, dragonflies, damselflies, diving beetles, plus a whole host of other aquatic creatures breed in the pond.
  • Bats breed in the eves.
  • Nesting birds; House Sparrows ,Great, Coal, Blue and Long-tailed Tits, Nuthatches, Wrens, Blackbirds, thrushes, Wood Pigeons, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Pied Wagtails, Robins, Dunnocks, and Swallows, occasionally we have a pair of Spotted Flycatchers.
  • We have recorded 57 species of birds visiting our garden including a Kingfisher.
  • We’ve identified 15 species of butterfly.
  • The Roe Deer and Fox visit nightly and the Badger whenever I plant something it considers food.
  • Field Mice, Field Voles, Common Shrews and Pygmy Shrews.
  • The wood introduced to the garden is attracting some fascinating beetles (including this fabulous longhorn beetle Strangalia maculata (right)).


 My 10 plants I wouldn’t be without:

  • Centaurea montana (Perennial Cornflower) - this is the number one choice of the bees in my garden.
  • Wisteria – the bees love the flowers, ladybirds hibernate behind it and the small birds use it for shelter.
  • Winter flowering Honeysuckle – on a warm winters day this is a life saver for the bees who pop out of hibernation or for the queen bees who emerge early.
  • Dahlias – beautiful flowers which continue right through the summer until the first frost and they are loved by the bees and butterflies, such as Peacock ( right)
  • Echium - the three varieties I grow (Blue bedder, Tiny bells and Pinner) are all bee magnets.
  • Cosmos – rich in pollen and the Goldfinches love the seeds.
  • Cerinthe (Blue kiwi) - an unusual looking annual, great for bees and the seeds are irresistible to the field mice.
  • Spring bulbs – an early source of food and a fantastic splash of colour after the grey of winter.
  • Trees – all trees, they provide a range of habitats and food.
  • Wild flowers – because nature does it best.