FAQ: Creating a Wildlife Pond

Few things are such an effective wildlife magnet as a pond. From the likes of frogs and damselflies looking to set up home, to birds and badgers visiting for a drink, add even a small stretch of water to your garden, and all manner of creatures will soon be stopping …

Read more

FAQ: Designing a Wildlife Garden

Wildlife gardening has never been more popular and with so many species of British plants and animals finding their natural habitats increasingly threatened, this burgeoning interest in back garden nature reserves couldn’t be more welcome. A proper wildlife garden, however, calls for a little bit more than just letting a …

Read more

Garden Mammals in Winter

As winter approaches, we tend to start thinking about the birds, but more often than not, we don’t give a great deal of thought to garden mammals. It’s partly an ‘out of sight out of mind’ kind of a thing; on the whole birds do tend to be a lot …

Read more

Garden Birds in Winter

Winter can be hard on birds. Finding food at this time of year is difficult enough even if the weather stays fairly mild, but when the temperature plummets and there’s snow on the ground, life very quickly becomes a real challenge for our feathered friends. It’s probably just as well …

Read more

How to Use a Bumble Bee Box?

It’s great to hear you’ve bought yourself a bee box; all around the world, bee numbers seem to be declining and although there are some possible explanations – including disease, habitat loss and pesticides – nobody seems entirely sure what’s going on. Bottom line – the more help these beneficial …

Read more

How Can I Turn My Pond Into a Bog Garden?

I’m sorry to hear that you’re finding things increasingly difficult, especially since gardening seems to mean such a lot to you and you’ve evidently invested a lot of time and effort into keeping your pond in good condition. The short answer is that what you’re thinking of doing can certainly …

Read more

Can I Prevent Woodpeckers Attacking My Nest Boxes?

Woodpeckers are beautiful birds, but sometimes they don’t entirely endear themselves to the wildlife gardener. Whether they’re simply trying to excavate a nest box in accordance with generations of instinct, or, as is distressingly often the case with the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) mounting an assault to get at …

Read more

What Are These Garden Birds?

I wouldn’t like to swear to it, but I think the two on the lamppost-like structure in your photo are Long-Tailed Tits ( Aegithalos caudatus) – a fairly little-known, but not uncommon, British resident distinguished by the lengthy tail which gives it it’s common name. Noisy Chaps and Undulating Fliers …

Read more

Equipment for Watching Wildlife

Half the enjoyment of creating your own wild area in the garden comes from the chance it gives you to watch some of our native wildlife and while you often need nothing more than a keen pair of eyes, there are times when a little extra equipment can help. Binoculars …

Read more

Identifying Butterflies & Moths

Butterflies and moths are some of the most attractive of all the world’s insects and Britain has more than its fair share of really striking varieties. Planting buddleia, mallow, honeysuckle and other nectar-rich plants in the wildlife garden is a sure-fire way to guarantee that you’ll not be short of …

Read more

Wildlife Gardener