Be nice to nettles Stinging nettles are prickly and grow everywhere, so why should we have them in the garden I hear you cry? Well, despite the sting that can get under our skin, nettles are wildlife havens.

The stinging nettle supports over 40 species of insect including colourful red admiral, small tortoiseshell, and peacock butterflies. They also attract our lions of the undergrowth — ladybirds — which happily hoover up pesky aphids. Dig a wildlife pond A pond, even the size of a washing up bowl, can benefit a host of wildlife from dragonflies to frogs, hedgehogs to diving beetles. You will need to find a sunny place for your pond and make sure it has a sloping edge so that animals can get in and out easily.

To help hibernating wildlife, create a deeper section in the middle, so that it does not freeze solid in winter. If you just cannot wait for your pond to be colonised naturally, you can plant a mixture of native oxygenating, floating, emergent and marginal plants such as marsh marigold and yellow flag iris.

Create a log pile A pile of dead, rotting wood may look uninviting to us, but to many living creatures it is a place to call home. Dead wood provides a home and food for various mini-beasts, providing tasty snacks for birds and hedgehogs.

They are also popular with amphibians and reptiles as they are a damp, cool retreat in the heat of summer, and also provide a frost-free hibernation site in winter.

Build a bug hotelInsects such as lacewings and hoverflies are great for polishing off pests. What is more, lots of plants only produce fruit if their flowers are pollinated by insects such as bees and wasps — great news for your beans and blackcurrants!

Provide shelter for insects by making a bug hotel: simply gather some old bamboo or hollow plant stems and cut them into 10-20cm lengths. Bundle them together with garden twine and hang your new hotel in the garden. Make a few and place them in different places from sunny spots to damp delves to help a variety of insects.

Plant a fly-by snack bar If you have provided a bed for your local insects why not tempt them with breakfast too? You can grow a lovely variety of colourful and fragrant plants to go on the menu. In early spring, bees will buzz around crocuses; in summer, cheerful orange pot marigolds cater for bees, hoverflies and lacewings, whilst butterflies will flitter around marjoram. Ivy flowers are an excellent winter food source. Find out more Visit www.bbowt.org.uk or www.wildaboutgardens.org. Alternatively, contact BBOWT’s Wildlife Information Service: wildinfo@bbowt.org.uk, 01865 788300.