Making room for wildlife.

In the past fifty years, the countryside has changed dramatically with the destruction of much of our ancient woodlands, meadows and wetlands. We can`t replace these losses but we can help wildlife in our gardens and also enjoy watching it at the same time. Individual gardens may be small but together they form a living landscape, Linking urban green spaces with nature reserves and our wider countryside. I want to try and encourage people to get out into their individual gardens and rethink what they are planting. Making our fifteen million gardens wildlife-friendly will help the plants and animals that make the UK so special, and ensure that they are there for future generations. Wildlife gardening is about creating places for animals and plants to thrive alongside people. This is something that i have tried to achieve at my wildlife garden that i have created at the chawson barn as previously spoken about in a previous blog. You can practise it on a large or small scale depending on the area you have to work with. Wildlife gardening brings life to your gardens. Small ponds and meadows are easy to create and quickly become focal points. Being wildlife-friendly also means using fewer chemicals, including ant powder and slug pellets. This will then save you money and also helping the environment. Together we can create bio-diversity, This is a big word but while i was out recruiting the other night i asked people that i spoke to if they new what it meant. Know one did but when i explained that all it mean`s is the number of different species living in anyone given area everyone understood.

Wildlife gardens

My wildlife garden at the barn owls pre-school.

I have just completed my first wildlife garden,The garden is at the Barn owls pre school at the chawson barn in Droitwich spa.Over the last three months i have totally transformed the area at the barn.When i first took on the project,The area had never been touched and it was no more than a mass of stinging nettles and rubble.Their was even an area that the neighbours had used to through their branches over from their silver birch tree.The first operation was to tackle the over hanging trees that were towering over the wall at the back of the garden.Then we removed the two compost bins that were in place(they were no more than waste bins).We then took away all of the branches and the rubble that were on the garden.(all of this was making the area look more like a rubbish tip than a wildlife garden).Then came the task of digging the whole area over.In all we dug the whole area five times with forks and spades.After taking care of removing all of the rubbish, we could then concentrate on actually returning the garden to a wildlife area for people to enjoy.After doing all of this we then marked out the area that i wanted for the borders so i could then put all of the different types of garden in that i wanted.


Another picture of the wildlife garden on a overcast day.

The wildlife garden would compromise of 1,Digging/planting area for the children. 2,Compost bin. 3,Bird feeder. 4,Log pile. 5,Stone pile. 6,Spring flower area. 7,Sensory garden. 8,Painted side wall. 9,Wildflower area. 10,Insect and butterfly boxes. 11,Re-seed the lawn area. 12,Insect tower. 13,Apply bark over all of the borders. 14,Put a log pile around the bird feeder. 15,Beetle bucket.After completing all of these and a lot of watering,We were finished.The garden looks superb now,A lot of effort but it was well worth it, as we have had house sparrows return already,Common blue butterflies,Small white butterflies and a cardinal beetle to name but four things to be seen in our garden.If anyone is interested in me doing a wild life garden for them they can contact me on 01905773313 or e-mail me via this blog.

ways to encourage wildlife into your garden

1,Make a wildlife corner in your garden that includes,daises,clover and nettles.

This will encourage bees,hoverflies and peacock,comma and small tortoiseshell butterflies.

2,Make a log pile in your garden.

This will encourage slugs,woodlice,centipedes and ground beetles.

3,Plant some wild flowers in your garden in spring and summer.

To include forget me nots,sweet rocket,primroses,lady's smock,buddleia,lavender,red valerian,scabious and knapweed.

4,Make a compost heap.

5,Paint natural yogurt on stones in your garden to encourage lichens to grow.

6,Make a stag beetle bucket by putting holes into the bucket,then filling it with wood chips and soil,try and leave it somewhere it wont be disturbed as stag beetles take a long time to mature.

7,Put up a bird or a bat box.

8,Do some bark rubbing as a family and remember to write down the tree's you rubbed.

9,Collect some cow parsley stems(collect them after it has gone through its cycle) and twigs and cut them into ten inch lengths,after this tie them with bio degradable string and place them in a corner of your garden.

This will attract lady birds,lacewings and other insects.

10,Make a bee home with hollow bamboo pipes.

This will attract mason bees that lay their eggs one at a time in the pipe,they then leave a supply of pollen or nectar and a plug of mud between them.