How To Preserve Wildlife in Your Garden

Birds, butterflies, even the occasional dragonfly all create movement and are a constant source of interest. In the unplanned garden they will be chance arrivals that make a fleeting visit and disappear from whence they came. However, careful garden design can, by providing the plants that attract them and the necessary shelter, persuade more wildlife to visit the garden and remain longer. Some will even take up residence and breed in the garden.  

Many people are deterred from considering wildlife gardening, believing that it involves giving over patches to stinging nettles and other weeds. You can if you wish plant wild flowers - those of the meadows and chalk down lands can now be bought from seeds men - if space allows such areas can be hidden away in a secret garden. Even a modest ecological garden requires careful planning, and you will need to plant the correct flowers to attract the butterflies that you are seeking.  

For example, the Blues of the chalk lands and the Marsh Fritillary require plants from vastly different habitats and you will never persuade them to co-exist in the same area, any more than you can make lime-loving plants grow alongside the azalea. With wildlife you must decide which forms you wish to attract into your garden and set about creating the environment that they seek. Even if you just attract the adult forms, the female will probably find weeds on which to lay her eggs, on a piece of rough ground or an unkempt plot within butterfly-commuting distance from your garden. 

During the last decade wildlife has increasingly moved into towns, with only those forms that have been able to adapt to the new environment surviving. If we are to be successful in giving nature a helping hand then it will probably be the result of the cumulative efforts of individuals through their gardens. You can aid nature by buying the pupae or chrysalides of many species of butterflies from butterfly farms.  

Butterflies eat green material only during the larval stage, the adult insect takes nectar throughout its life and will fly to such flowers as scabious, candytuft, sedum and buddleia, whilst the last of the Red Admirals and Peacocks will feed upon Michaelmas daisies and the juice of fallen fruit, before taken their final meal from ivy in October and hibernating for the winter. All of these flowers are a pleasure in themselves, worthy of inclusion in any plan, and by simply remembering them you can be sure of the constant presence of the brightest butterflies during the late summer days, when they are on the wing. 

Insects are often thought of as being the enemy of the gardener, but this is an inaccurate and unfair accusation.  

Admittedly there are pests such as the Cabbage White butterflies (both large and small), and the onion and carrot root flies, which exploit our crops, but they are very much in the minority and for every vegetarian pest there is usually a specialist predator that will provide natural protection. Moreover, insects are essential for the pollination of plants, and without them performing that role we would be incapable of providing even the most basic of foods. Gardeners can do a great deal to protect this important natural resource, by selecting a small number of subjects, perhaps only one or two, such as buddleia and honeysuckle, which will attract the widest range of nectar-feeding insects. 

Water gardens are a natural home for frogs and toads, and if you have a pond or part of a pond that is fish-free (the fish would eat the eggs and tadpoles), look out for the spawn appearing during late March and early April. Frogs tend to return to the area in which they were raised to spawn and can now be found in town centers. Acquire some spawn or tadpoles in the spring -seek a man-made site, never raid a natural habitat - and place them in your pond.  

If the pond has had the opportunity to establish itself, it will already be supporting sufficient life to feed the amphibians and you will not need to supplement their diet. In August the lily pads will become covered in tiny black jumping objects, and the tadpoles will have metamorphosed into frogs, No longer dependent upon the pond, they will move around the garden feeding on insects and all manner of garden pests, asking no more from their human hosts than the provision of some loose stones under which to hibernate, so that they may emerge again in the spring to start the whole process over again. 

Loose stones, dense growth and similar areas that provide cover and protection are the prerequisites of keeping wildlife in the garden. Hedgehogs and slow worms, that seek the warmth of the compost heap, and sun-basking lizards may all find their way into your garden and rear their young if you provide them with the necessary shelter. No odd corner is too remote, nor few geographical situations too removed from the countryside to attract a whole range of wildlife. In the past the gardener has turned to insecticides to kill his foes in the garden, but the chemical that destroys the aphids will also destroy the ladybirds that prey on them and keep the pest problems to manageable pro­portions.  

When the aphids return, as they inevitably do, there are no predators and the problem becomes greater, reaching epidemic proportions. More insecticides are then required until it all becomes some dreadful horticultural addiction. Insecticides have been developed that are specific for certain pests, but today we live in a more enlightened age, and we know that if we upset the balance of nature (albeit in a way that we think we have under control), the unpre­dictable effects will sooner or later become apparent. Increasing numbers of people are dealing with the pest problem by living at peace with nature and attracting the widest possible range of wildlife into the garden. The natural balance that results means that only a very small part of the plant kingdom suffers from the actions of the original predators. 

Very little effort is required to attract birds into the garden, especially the robin, who so faithfully follows our efforts at digging in winter and spring, and the blackbird. Each bird has its own carefully marked-out territory. A policy of attracting insects into the garden will bring with it insectivorous birds such as tits and summer visitors such as martins. Seed-eaters may be attracted by cotoneasters which will provide bright berries during the winter months before the birds take their final feed, and if you provide cover the thrush will keep a constant vigil against slugs and snails, In addition to the natural methods, a feeding table can be placed near to the focal point from the main window, and if it is charged with seeds, dunnocks, finches and tits will come to feed regularly providing constant movement.  

The smaller birds will wait on the fence for the larger and more aggressive birds to take their fill before arriving at the table. Nature knows no boundary, and different species, particularly during a cold spell, will fly into the table. Those people, who live by a wood, or where a wood has recently been felled to make way for houses, may find woodpeckers coming into the garden, or even a squirrel. In the short dark days of winter the garden is as alive as at any time of the year, and the contented gardener may gaze out at the wonders of nature, but only if he has landscaped his garden and designed it with that in mind.