How To Attract Wildlife Into Your Garden

At Drew Smith we use our expertise to build in areas within our developments for wildlife and we love encouraging the communities that we create to do the same in their own gardens.

We have put together some simple tips that can attract a whole range of species into your garden from wildflowers and butterflies to hedgehogs and reptiles.

Create a wildflower border.

Pick a patch of your garden that might need a little brightening up and turn it into a beautiful wildflower garden. Wildflower seeds can be picked up in most garden centres, choose a cornfield mix for the best colours which will include corn Poppies, Marigolds, and Cornflowers. These plants will not only provide food and shelter for a variety of species but will also bring a beautiful display of colour to brighten up every time of garden.

If you are struggling for space even the smallest gardens can benefit from planting wildflowers using pots, planters and even window boxes and can make a real difference to the wildlife where you live.

Don’t forget the birds!

Providing berries, nuts and seeds for birds has never been more important with the decline in their natural habitats. To attract birds into your garden you need to make it attractive as possible to them by not only providing them with food but also access to shelter, nesting sites and access to water.

Feeding the birds can work around any type of garden. You could buy a hanging feeder and fill with seeds, create a bird table or simply feed the birds on the ground or even make your own bird feeders our of half coconuts, pinecones and seed covered fat.

Plant herbs

Potted herbs can be picked up very easily from most supermarkets and can be a cost-effective way of adding greenery to your house and garden as well as attracting wildlife such as bees and butterfly’s. No matter how much space you have you can easily plant most herbs in beds, borders, pots, and window boxes. Not only will you be attracting wildlife for your garden but you also have free and delicious herbs for you and your family to add to their meals.

Encourage hedgehogs

Hedgehogs need all the help they can get making a home so why not help them out and encourage them to make a home in your garden. They are great little friends to have around the place as they will gobble up all of your slugs and snails which will in turn save your flowers from being eaten by them.

Making sure that you have lots of thick undergrowth in your garden is key as hedgehogs like to nest in long grass so they can hide away. Hedgehogs like to travel between gardens so its useful to plant hedges as boundaries and if you have a fence or wall, cut a small hole in it for them to travel through.

You can offer your hedgehogs some food and water but stick to meaty cat or dog food and never leave out milk or bread.

Make a bug hotel.

Your garden will already be a home to thousands of species of insect and providing an excellent way of keeping control of the bugs that will want to eat all of your plants. By providing them with a “bug hotel”, they will greatly increase in numbers as well as bringing real benefits to your garden.

Building a bug hotel couldn’t be easier. Grab whatever you have lying around the garden such as stones, wood, old tiles, pallets, twigs and branches and pile it up in a quiet area that gets the sun but also the shade throughout the day. Why not be creative and add a sign giving your bug hotel its own name.

Install a bat box

Sitting on your patio at dusk watching the bats flying really is amazing and with bat numbers are in decline and so its great for us to know how to help them. Not only do they provide aerobatics display at dusk, but they also keep your garden looking beautiful by eating some of the insects that eat away at your plants.

Installing a bat box is easy. You can pick them up from most garden centres or order online and can even make your own if you are able. Install the box four or five metres from the ground in a sheltered spot and sit back and wait for the bats to arrive.

Wildlife can make a home in your garden in so many ways and looking after the wildlife in your garden can be hugely rewarding. Let us know about the wildlife in your garden and share your photos through our social media channels.