By Wendy Tobitt

 

In between the autumn showers, now is the time to make new homes for wildlife by creating a nature reserve in your garden. According to the State of Nature report, published earlier this year, the loss of habitats — places where insects, birds and animals live, feed and breed — is one of the main reasons why there are fewer garden birds, hedgehogs and butterflies around.

We can all do something to help halt the decline of wildlife, and the Wild About Gardens campaign, launched this week by The Wildlife Trusts and Royal Horticultural Society, offers lots of good ideas.

It’s tempting to go out and tidy up the dead and dying flower stems and seed heads; but why not leave a few of them standing through the winter? Seed heads will be perfect for finches and sparrows, and hollow stems make good homes for lacewings and ladybirds.

Raking up leaves can be a back-aching job, so that’s another one I leave for nature to deal with. earthworms and other creatures of the soil such as millipedes need those leaves. They’ll draw them down into the soil, munching their way through decomposing vegetation, and enriching the flower beds for next year.

In the winter I like to have a front-row seat (behind double glazing) to spot birds, and the occasional bumblebee, foraging in my garden in the winter sunshine. A couple of bird seed and nut feeders and a special fat ball should attract lots of finches, blue tits and even a great spotted woodpecker. Birds need plenty of water to drink and bathe in, so a birdbath is essential. They don’t have to be fancy; just fill an old tray or a large plant pot saucer with water and watch the birds fly in to enjoy their new splash-pool.

According to the Royal Horticultural Society, a partner in the Wild About Gardens campaign, honeybee colonies are declining due to the lack of suitable flowers with nectar. But some bumblebees and solitary bees that feed on a wide range of garden plants are making a comeback.

This shows that we can make a difference and help wildlife to recover, so it’s up to us to make sure there are a variety of food supplies for honeybees as well.

One of the most intriguing bees to see in the garden in winter is the hairy-footed flower-bee. It may sound like a creature from The Hobbit, but this delightful insect feeds on lungwort flowers, or ‘soldiers and sailors’ to us cottage garden plant-lovers. These blue and pink flowers emerge in late January and brighten up the darker corners of a garden, as well as providing essential food for the hairy-footed flower-bee and other insects from February onwards.

Winter-flowering and fragrant shrubs include the evergreen mahonia, which is a mass of yellow flowers with a wonderful ‘lily-of-the-valley’ scent, and is very attractive for bees. In the autumn the dusky blue berries are gobbled up by birds, which then appear quite drunk – the Oregon grape is another name for this shrub. They look cute in spite of their prickles and they are gardeners’ best friends – the hedgehog, hedge-pig or furze-pig – eats slugs and snails. Hedgehogs need a winter home where they can hibernate away from the chill winds and frosts, but get access to sources of food if they do wake up on a warm January day.

A stack of logs piled against a wall, with a few small entrances just the right size for a hedgehog, can be the ideal home; and if the stack is placed near a compost heap, there will be a few slugs and beetles about for a quick winter snack.