Wildlife in your garden

[Marky B]

Can anyone give me advice about converting half of my garden into something to attract wildlife.
Marky B

[yogasun]

Hi!
This is a good site:-
http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/wildlife _gardening/wildlife_gardening.htm

Most of our garden is wildlife friendly.
We have a pond, lots of butterfly/bee friendly plants and leave a large patch of long grass around a couple of fruit trees and the pond. We have a sheet of corrugated iron which attracts slow worms. We have lots of surrounding shrubs which is great cover for the birds and we get masses in our garden. People in the road ask why we get so many! It's easy, we don't manicure everything and chop it all down and concrete/deck it over!
There's loads that you can do. Good luck!

[Toxophilus]

Are you prepared to wait a while? It depends of course on what sort of wildlife you are after.

I have a front lawn about 8 ft square. Some years ago I planted my Christmas Tree which is now roughly the same size in circumference. I put in a hedgehog house about 3 years ago and completely forgot it. I have since planted crocus, hyacinths (anything in a pot) and a few Christmas Roses. These latter give cover for the hedgehogs which they like. They also like the prickly plant with berries. a hedgehog stayed with us all last winter and since waking up in the spring has been fed daily. A few yards away the animals can get into a park so they have a large place to go to at night for their slugs etc. However, until they started hibernation this year I was feeding as many as five. They still come late at night to see if the dish in the feeding station (which we made to hospital say-so) still has anything in it.

They like dried hedgehog food but this time of the year the best is dog food (small pieces) which helps them to combat the winter.

They must also have a bowl of water topped up constantly.

The food should not be put out until you have seen one around but the minute you see one interested in the house (with hay and leaves in it) a bowl of dog food nightly will attract it and help you to keep it interested. The neighbours may help with this if you are on holiday. Good luck.

[bensmum]

I have a large garden but hate gardening so i use this as an excuse not to do too much! I live in a semi-rural area and the outer edges of the garden are left to shrubs, trees and brambles. Brambles are a pain but the birds and small furries love the berries in autumn and the bushes provide cover for loads of birds and hedgehogs. I suppose the answer would be don't mow the grass too low, and don't be too proud about having messy areas. Insects love things to crawl under, fallen branches can be wonderful for certain insects, plant shrubs which attract birds and butterflies, feed the birds and just enjoy it.

[Marky B]

Thanks for the answers,guys.
Marky B

[Marky B]

How would I go about planting thistles?
Marky B