How To Attract Wildlife Into Your Garden.
There’s nothing more relaxing than spending the evening in a garden amongst the flora and fauna, but how can you ensure that animals will be attracted to your garden? There are various tips and tricks that you can use to make your garden more appealing, including the use of ponds, flowerbeds and ornaments.
At GardenAdvice, they’re helping schools by building and extending wildlife gardens and outdoor areas. Through this interactive project they provide an educational experience for students across a network of schools. Each school is awarded with their own mini-website dedicated to their garden upon completion of the project. This project also helps to further their knowledge of the climate and environment.
Ponds and Plants
Building your own pond is a great method of attracting wildlife to your garden; dragonflies, frogs and newts are commonly found in and around ponds and other types of still water. To make your pond even more appealing to the wildlife in your area you can add plants such as Bog Bean, Greater Pons Sedge and Water Figwort. Each of these plants are native to the UK and are likely to increase the number of animals and insects that are attracted to your garden.
Using Flowers
Plant different types of flowers within your garden and look after them; maintaining these flowerbeds will attract the likes of bees, butterflies and caterpillars. If you’re looking to tempt butterflies; the best types of flowers to grow within your garden would be common Milkweed, Bloodflower, Wild Bergamot, Zinnia, Oregano and White Clover. By planting these specific plants you should see butterflies of all types coming to visit your garden
Attracting Feathers and Fur
To attract birds and squirrels you can purchase objects such as bird houses, these bird houses can be hung from trees or outer buildings within your garden; or alternatively you can purchase birdhouses that stand alone. By scattering bread, dried fruits and nuts onto the bird house you will attract a number of different species of bird and after a while you will also begin to attract squirrels. Be wary when providing food for the wildlife as it can also attract unwanted guests such as rats, mice and other vermin.
Another method of attracting birds is to obtain a bird bath. A bird bath is an excellent method of looking out for your feathered friends within the dry summer months as it a little provides relief for the birds and allows them access to water. If you are considering making use of a bird bath, it should be of a height that prevents cats and other larger animals from reaching the water, as this will scare away other forms of wildlife.
Insects Within the Garden
Some of the less favourable insects such as moths and crane flies (also known as daddy long legs) are easier to attract than other types of insect. To attract crane flies and moths all you need do is avoid trimming a small section of grass; the longer grass provides the right type of habitat for these insects and allows them the space to breed without being disturbed.
These are some of the many methods that you can use in order to attract insects, birds and other types of wildlife to your garden; for information on attracting the larger animals such as hedgehogs, cats and foxes you can enquire at your local garden centre or wildlife reserve.
Find the GardenAdvice Team on Google+
