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UK and Ireland Part 1
Your garden and how to help bring back wildlife

(This section of this article can also be found in the "Wildlife Files")

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UK and Ireland Menu

you are here> PART 1 - Introduction - your garden and how to help bring back wildlife
PART 2 - Pond life & how to make a wildlife pond
PART 3 - Mammals, birds, plants and insects - environment and care
FURTHER READING - A great selection of wildlife gardening books
Further information for Schools

The most enriching garden on earth is the one that costs almost nothing to create.

As you may have read in the Wildlife Files here at VeggieGlobal, over 60% of the wild bird population has disappeared in the last 25 years.
The reason?
Farming pesticides are the most commonly known cause, but closer to home the way you may over-manage your own garden can be just as much of a contributory factor. In fact, everything you do in your garden can make a difference to the local environment in ways you may never have imagined. It's like the "butterfly effect" - When a butterfly flaps its wings in an English garden it can can be the eventual trigger of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico! In other words, every small change you make to your garden will have a chain effect on the flora and fauna which depend on it.
Unfortunately, in most cases, people take great strides to "makeover" a garden as to how they want it to look... rather than what is a suitable, enviromentally friendly green habitat for your locality. Cosmetic appearances like a garden layed out like a garden centre play no effective part in conservation.
This is not to say that a garden can't look beautiful if it's tailored to support local wildlife. All you need to do is first look at what kind flora and fauna are native to your local area, source native plants and build habitats to help encourage wildlife. This can all be done to look and feel inviting to the human eye as well as being a perfect haven for a huge variety of flora and fauna. Every plant and creature found in your garden can be considered a friend - even those hardly seen ... species so small in fact that the benefits they bring to maintaining the balance of your garden can be seriously overlooked. A balanced garden, which can also include a sustainable fruit and veg patch, is all to do with how you set it out to accommodate all creatures, because from the tiniest insect to the biggest tree there is a delicate chain that connects all these things ... Read on to find out why.

How do you see your garden?

Neat and tidy gardens are often environmentally unfriendly places. Some of us treat them like an extension of the inside of our home - the flowers in sterile beds are like ornaments on dusted shelves, while the manicured lawn or paved features represent neat vacuumed carpets. On one hand, regimented arrangements of one colour co-ordinated plants won't attract a natural mix of insect species. And on the other hand, ill-chosen, expensive shrubs bought from the garden centre for nothing but appearance adds to the hideous imbalance and lack of integration with native species. To top it all, fads and fashions of slabs, shingle and decking are bleak, unapproachable terrain for garden wildlife - from animals to the insects which, almost without exception, should be considered nature's gardeners, and not your enemy.
An unnatural uniformity in "designer" gardens can lead to flora infestations such as aphids (greenfly etc.) Aphids are part of the diet of ladybirds, hover flies, lacewings and many other garden insects - Pesticides will also kill these welcome inhabitants leading to a spiralling imbalance of the natural environment. A suburban back yard, ending up like the contents of a garden center or the latest "home and garden" magazine, is nature's worst enemy ... Besides, such a garden shows lack of soul and originality - which in turn highlights a disposable income society void of any respect for the planet. Furnishing a garden with exotic shrubs and tasteless facades can be a very costly exercise - not just for the pocket but for the environment too. The growing, transportation and pesticide treatment of just one plant from a garden centre and subsequent clearing of the natural growth in your garden to plant it can increase your carbon footprint substantially. Nine times out of ten, there is no positive environmental gain in ornamental-based gardening. To make things even worse, in the UK in particular, more people are fencing themselves in - literally, by surrounding themselves with impenetrable wooden or brick walls - cutting off ground-moving wildlife from the outside. For example, if slugs are already inside such a garden, they will flourish since their natural predators, like hedgehogs, frogs and toads can't enter to feed on them. Slugs, in fact play an important role in the process of decomposting - adding important nutrients back into the soil.
Meanwhile, nesting birds have next to no chance of finding a home in an ornamental Acer tree or other exotic floral eye-candy. The concept of a wildlife friendly garden doesn't mean that you simply can't have an Acer tree to admire, it just means that it should be considered contributory rather than an alternative to native growth. Native growth often harbours and harvests life suitable to your local environment. In other words, what grows naturally in your garden should always take priority - providing it is not invasive weeds introduced by humans in the first-place.
And where should you be getting most of your plants and shrubs from when creating a garden? Simply by communicating with neighbours who may have also learnt to garden organically and in harmony with the locally-grown environment - This means that you can all share cuttings, seeds and home-grown trees, shrubs and vegetables etc. ... even all-important wildlife pond water, insects and tadpoles! Nature needs every bit of help it can get to help regenerate your local ecosystem. And neighbourhood by neighbourhood, the positive changes this could bring to the planet, and even your own health could become one the main factors in helping to reduce global degradation. And what if you have just a patio? You can still play an important role by ensuring that your patio's plants and shrubs harmonize with each other and of course with the flora and fauna native to your area. Airborne insects like bees, which play a life-sustaining role in nature - for the entire planet in fact - will be thankful for the friendly pollen and nectar filled flowers on your patio or roof garden. The bee population is at a critical low. These are one of nature's most important gardeners, but because of the trend towards inappropriate non-native shrubs in gardens and patios, instead of flower-rich variants suitable for bees, means this can only contribute to their dramatic decline. Even Einstein calculated that without bees all life on earth would die out in five years.

But before VeggieGlobal guides you on your way to creating a wildlife garden, you must first unravel any preconceived ideas of what makes a garden look "nice" and to understand that a wildlife garden creates its own vistas. It certainly should not be about contriving views of the garden that you want to see from the windows of your house. If your garden is already an overgrown "forest" then the first thing to do is certainly NOT grab a saw and a fork and begin to cut it all down or smother it with "weed killer" or rolls of black material to kill off everything in sight. All the plants, trees and shrubbery have grown in your "neglected" garden in a complex, natural manner of self-selection, and often partnered themselves with corresponding plants that reciprocally help in maintaining a disease and infestation-free existence.
Have you ever seen an insect or disease infected tree or shrub in a natural wild area? Probably never. If you have next-door neighbours who treat their garden like an an extension of their neat and tidy living room, then you'll probably hear a constant stream of moaning from the other side of your fence about shrubs and trees dying from disease and aphids or slugs devouring their plants. In which case, your neighbours are the kind of ignorant or stubborn gardeners who will never listen to or face the facts; by constantly blasting their garden full of pesticides and digging up anything that looks "foreign" amongst their manicured flower beds, they will always suffer from sick plants and trees. These types of people will often even sterilize their soil with antiseptic after a shrub has died ... a wretched smell that lingers across neighbourhoods for days.

A Brief Introduction to Natural Convergence.

VeggieGlobal's term,"Natural Convergence", means tuning into the pulse or heartbeat of your garden. Spend some time - days or weeks just learning about the atmosphere of the garden - the comings and goings, the way light (and dappled light through trees) generates little ecosystems in different areas - and see which areas seem to self manage themselves most effectively.
As you begin to explore the growth of your wild garden, the first thing to do is to establish natural path areas. Imagine yourself as just another animal who has entered the wild garden ... like a fox or badger who will often create a pathway that they use each time they visit. You, the human animal, can do the same; so walk through the garden in a natural manner ... which will mean carefully navigating around trees, shrubs and long grasses. Do this a few times and your natural labyrinth should begin to reveal itself. Those paths become your interaction with the wild area. They indicate human presence but also enable both you and the flora and fauna to coexist without one intruding on the other in any negative way. Once this relationship establishes, you and the nature surrounding you in your garden will slowly become reciprocal partners. From this point on, all the work you do in maintaining your partnership with your wildlife garden becomes an unobtrusive and most importantly, an environmentally positive exercise.
Of course, Natural Convergance doesn't just mean how we humans have to tread carefully within nature, because it also describes what we can bring into that environment to help not just it, but to sustain ourselves as well. So this may include the planting of an organic fruit and vegetable patch, and determining how this can be achieved without disruption of the surrounding nature of your garden.

Here are just a few aspects of how we can naturally converge into our garden or even "allotment" space and the mindset in which you need to familiarize yourself with:
Bee hives, (for all-important pollination) wildlife ponds, natural style greenhouses, natural pest control, harmonizing with wildlife, acceptance of sustainable losses, native species research, organic protocols, bird feeds, bird houses, bird roosting areas (i.e. birds will eat the aphids), small mammal habitats (i.e. hedgehogs will eat the slugs). Natural Convergence also means encouragement of fungi growth - (including edible). Garden tools must only be manual, or if powered only via renewable energy. Watering should become almost unnecessary, since a natural garden retains almost all the moisture it needs, or else adapts during dry periods.
NOTE: If you use a garden hose for the purpose of regularly watering an average size "terraced house" garden, then you are seriously doing all the wrong things to your garden - and wasting a precious resource at the same time.

If your current back yard / garden is nothing more than a lifeless pile of flat earth, concrete, or short patchy grass, then you will need to create ... or at least kick-start your wildlife garden into action. You will in effect be helping to reintroduce the growth of plants, grasses and trees which would most likely have originally resided there before humans destroyed it. The following pages should now help you begin to reintroduce natural life back into your neighbourhood.

Building up the Partnership with your garden.

As we've mentioned, as a wildlife gardener you should consider yourself in partnership with your garden, rather than its controller. As a partner, and as you naturally converge with it, you will begin to learn and appreciate the subtle balance between your actions and the growth and survival of the plant and animal life surrounding you.
For example, various species of plants (usually yellow) will attract aphid eating insects, so plant these adjacent to shrubs which are at risk of infestation. Aphids are also important food for birds such as blue tits and great tits and most importantly their young, which will feed on tens of thousands of aphids as the baby birds grow. But one of the most important things to remember when planting a garden from scratch is that if some shrubs and trees die after a while - even from disease or pests - do not consider this as a failure of either your gardening ability - and don't blame it on pests. This is all part of natural selection and while some plants will thrive, others may not. Leave nature to take its course as it eventually determines what kind of flora and fauna your garden can naturally accommodate. Once you add a wildlife pond to your garden it will also take on a whole extra dimension - but more on that later.

Natural ground coverage is important in your garden so leave plants to decay and rot down after flowering. Without decaying foliage such as fallen leaves and long grassy areas, the ground cannot regenerate its nutrients or sustain important insect life. If left, the seeds of dead flowers, also provide food for birds. But since humans have destroyed so much of their natural food source, wild birds are now more dependent on us for food (and nesting boxes) than ever before. So whenever possible, leave out bird seed and grain, crushed peanuts etc. (not bread as this can choke and kill baby birds).
To attract woodpeckers set up a wire mesh nut tube which doesn't swing around but is solidly attached to a tree or bracket. Also set up a wire mesh nut tube which doesn't swing around but is solidly attached to a tree or bracket. And don't forget the all-important nesting boxes to help encourage all your local bird species.
Long grassy areas will help to regenerate the disappearing world of small animals, which although unpleasant to dwell on are the food source of a now sparse owl population and other native birds of prey. Without a healthy population of rodents such as mice or voles etc., owls have to spend more time searching for food rather than breed or feed their young... hence the dramatic reduction of their species.

But once you begin feeding your local bird life, keep it up. They will depend on your offerings to rear their young... helping to expand the interdependent circle of life, which over a couple of years will help increase your local bird population. Every bit helps.

As mentioned, gardens without natural wildlife areas are most likely to have problems with disease. In time, a naturally balanced garden will sort out its own problems. Wild areas, and particularly ponds will attract and bring to life an abundance of creatures and wild flowers capable of restoring some ecological balance to your garden.

Birds, hedgehogs, frogs toads, newts and insects alike all play host at keeping everything in order. They are nature's gardeners and do a far better job preserving your flora than any chemicals or over-tidy human gardener. And most importantly our suburban wildlife will begin to have enough native food for themselves and their young. Also remember that slug pellets WILL kill hedgehogs and other animals who feed on slugs. Let the hedgehogs survive and they will dispose of slugs, since they are part of our prickly friends diet. If you need to remove slugs then the most effective method is to occasionally go around at night removing them with a gloved hand or spade.

Note: If you've seen the articles in the Looking-Glass Global News section you may have read that the world amphibian population is rapidly declining - close to mass extinction. This is through both destruction of their habitats (like garden ponds and wetlands), but also through a fungal disease (not dangerous to humans). If you have frogs or toads, do everything possible to help with their survival (see part 2)

Pesticides are just not necessary. Even if you loose a few of your plants in the first year or two, your garden will settle into a balanced and healthier environment in the future, whereby you will never need to use any damaging pesticides.
So, the number one rule is never use pesticides or weed-killer. That is the worst thing you can do to your garden and its wildlife. For example if you treat your lawn with chemical based "greening" products etc. the poisons and chemicals soak straight into the soil and are absorbed by worms. Birds feed on the worms who pass them onto the babies and they will die. In fact, your garden soil becomes a death trap for wildlife for many years until the poisons disperse.
Research has also found that garden pesticides can seriously effect children's health. Studies have shown that children suffer symptoms like loss of bowel and bladder control for weeks after being in contact with lawns covered with pesticides. Pesticide products can contain chemicals linked to non-Hodgkins lymphoma and soft-tissue cancers.

Hedges and hedgerows are home to a huge diversity of animals, birds and insects. If you have to trim hedges then only do so outside of the nesting season (UK nesting season is between beginning of March and end of September). Don't trim the flowers or berries from hedges either as this is vital food for hedge-dwellers. Never tidy up underneath hedges. The ground coverage provides habitats for small creatures and insects - and decaying vegetation nourishes the soil to enable healthy shrub regeneration. Some of our rarest wildlife has its home in our hedgerows and feed from its fruits, like the increasingly rare dormouse for example. Rare butterflies also lay their eggs in hedges. So always treat hedges with respect.

Although cats are wonderful companion pets, cats and garden wildlife simply don't mix. Their natural instinct drives them to catch birds and small mammals, regardless of whether they are hungry or not. If you have recently moved to a house where there is an abundance of garden wildlife, you are strongly advised to refrain from aquiring a cat and introducing it into the environment. In fact, it is estimated that in the UK 300 million wild birds and mammals are killed by cats every year. If you already own a cat it is very important that you keep them indoors at night as this simple action will help to protect your garden wildlife somewhat from prowling cats late at night and at dawn.

So, to summarize:

  • Re-educate yourself to recognize the meandering natural elements of your garden as a thing of beauty instead of your enemy.
  • When your new wildlife garden establishes itself, take a reflective look at how beautiful it now is; free of soulless garden centre shrubs and pointless manicured stoneways and "weedless" flowerbeds - and instead be consumed by the profusion of colour, the scents of all seasons, the blooming and the decay, the regeneration of wildlife - with nature and you harmoniously entwined ... self-maintaining - life-giving - replenishing.

Continued in PART 2 - Pond life & how to make a wildlife pond

Copyright John O'Donnell (VeggieGlobal.com and Looking-Glass.co.uk)
Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents of these websites in any form is prohibited.

UK and Ireland Menu

you are here> PART 1 - Introduction - your garden and how to help bring back wildlife
PART 2 - Pond life & how to make a wildlife pond
PART 3 - Mammals, birds, plants and insects - environment and care
FURTHER READING - A great selection of wildlife gardening books
Further information for Schools

More Related Areas

Sharing This Planet With The Animals - a useful guide to help you live side by side with your animal friends.

UK and Ireland may also wish to visit the Wildlife Files section here at VeggieGlobal for more advice about wildlife friendly gardens.

The dotCOMpassionZone here at VeggieGlobal provides you with a selection of books, DVDs and interactive programmes relating to animals, nature and humanitarian reference. There is also a childrens section.

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