Firstly, it’s important to remember that all newts are partly protected species and the crested newt is fully protected so you should never remove them from the wild to bring back home to your garden. However, if you create the right environment, you stand a good chance of being able …
Whilst all of the animals and other creatures in our garden have a role to play in maintaining the ecological balance of the surrounding environment, some are more welcomed than others and no other group of creatures causes more of a ‘friend or foe’ debate than insects and other flying …
To many people slugs are unattractive and they can be a real pest to gardeners. However, even though people will opt to use slug pellets to get rid of them, it is not a safe way to deal with them as you also run the risk killing other wildlife and …
To some people worms in the garden can seem to be an unpleasant nuisance, but they are a sign that your wildlife garden is healthy and in great shape. They are actually vital in that they aerate the soil which maintains its structure and fertility. They also bring important nutrients …
For some gardeners who want to attract wildlife into their garden they sometimes fail to realise that by taking certain actions to attract a particular species, they are, perhaps, unwittingly also bringing other creatures into the garden too. Nowhere is the dichotomy felt greater than when we consider insects and, …
Whilst the thought of bees fills many people with fear because of their capacity to sting, people with gardens are only too aware of the fundamental importance of having bees in the garden as they are natural pollinators of crops. However, they have far more uses than that as they …
With the increasing spread of urbanisation bringing about a reduction in the amount of natural meadow land spaces this has played a part in reducing the amount of natural habitat for butterflies. However, the good news is that you don’t have to put in a great deal of effort to …
One of the pleasures of keeping a garden pond is to attract wildlife to it and many people look to attract frogs. As amphibians frogs are creatures that spend part of their lives in water and the rest on dry land but you might be surprised to learn that most …
There are about 30 species of dragonfly which you may encounter in the UK and Ireland and about 20 species of damselfly. Collectively, they belong to the order of insects termed ‘Odonata’ with dragonflies belonging to the sub order termed ‘Anisoptera’ which means ‘unequal winged’ whilst damselflies belong to the …
Gardening has a habit of encouraging many different species into the garden but attracting toads is not something that would seem to be very appealing to most gardeners. However, there are advantages to encouraging toads into your garden and there are numerous gardening tips to encourage them to do so. …
