5 Ways To Make Your Garden A Wildlife Haven In 2021
1. Grow Flowers and Grasses
Grow flowers and let your grass grow long to create a feeding ground and shelter for insects, birds and small animals. Butterflies will enjoy pollenating flowering plants and birds will appreciate the seeds. Poppies and cornflowers are particularly great and also look beautiful too. Our wildflower meadows on the farm attract all sorts of finches, sparrows, linnets, sparrows and of course lots of bees and butterflies.
2. Plant a Tree
Planting a tree will create food and shelter for birds and their nests. Fruit trees could provide food and their branches will also encourage squirrels. At Wild With Nature we are carful not to trim back our hedges and trees too much so to provide cover and fare for birds.
3. Consider the Birds
Set up feeders and water baths for birds. Especially over winter, wild birds struggle to find their own food and in summer water is in short supply, so they need a helping hand. You can buy readymade bird feed mix but you could also give them food waste from your kitchen such as soaked bread, fatty meat rinds, dried fruit, seeds and cereal. As long as it isn’t too salty or sugary. On our farm we scatter a whopping 2.5 tonnes of bird food over winter.
4. Compost Your Scraps
Compost heaps, log and leaf piles are perfect hiding places for hedgehogs and toads. We compost all green waste from the farm and food scraps from guests and the farmhouse.
5. Build a Nest Box or Feeding Station
Nest boxes are a great way of encouraging birds to stay long-term. Boxes provide them with a safe space to make nests and raise their chicks. House sparrow populations are particularly in trouble at the moment in the UK so it would be very exciting if you spot one of these in your nest box. Alternatively, you could opt to encourage bird populations by using a feeding product like a small Bird feeder. This way, you can help more birds survive and flourish in the UK winters.