Garden tiger moth by Tom Marshall
Towns and gardens
A wildlife-friendly garden is really important
Built up areas and gardens might seem unlikely places for finding wildlife. However, surprisingly they can provide homes for some of our most amazing wildlife, from city peregrines to urban otters! There are lots of ways we can help them be even better for wildlife though...
Tessa Andrews
Foxes, badgers and hedgehogs are all at home in our towns and gardens. Garden ponds provide homes for frogs, common toads and newts. Swifts, house martins and pipistrelle bats make our homes and buildings their homes too!
It's amazing how much wildlife can find its way into our gardens if we provide habitat for it. You'll also be surprised how much wildlife comes out at night, whilst we sleep! Emily from Devon Wildlife Trust tells us more about urban wildlife in her video.
Garden birds
House sparrow, song thrush, dunnock and starling populations have all declined in the countryside, and are now considered endangered. But you can help them, by providing food and places for them to breed in your garden. Feeding the birds brings us closer to nature, and there's a good chance you'll see sparrows, thrushes, dunnocks and starlings in your very own back garden or park if you help to look after them.
Make a bird feeder Explore garden bird species
Download the garden bird spotter sheet!
Garden mammals
Many mammals that would have once lived in the countryside, have learnt to adapt to our towns and gardens; keep a look out for hedgehogs, foxes and house mice. There are lots of ways you can help mammals in your back garden.
Garden plants
Plants are not only beautiful, they also encourage pollinating insects, such as bees, to come to our gardens. Try to grow native (from the UK) plants if possible, as our insects often like them the best!
Make seed bombs Create a garden wigwam for plants
Download the summer flower spotter Grow flowers for butterflies
Garden minibeasts
Minibeasts are fascinating to watch and they're also essential for so many reasons. They're pollinators and are food themselves for lots of the other wildlife that live in our gardens, such as birds and hedgehogs.
Anna Williams
Did you know?
There are estimated to be more than two million garden ponds in the UK and these are fantastic habitats for frogs, newts and dragonflies.
