Our Wildlife Friendly Garden

As nature lovers, my partner and I had a couple of questions when we decided we’d like to support the local wildlife. Would it be possible with such a small garden? Could we do it reasonably cheaply? The answer to both was a resounding YES!

It started with a simple bird table. We bought one that was free-standing and decided to embed it into the ground for stability. I bought a selection of cheap bird foods and put them and a glass of water on the table for them.

The first visitors to the newly installed table were pigeons, doves and magpies. I was worried that the pigeons were monopolising the seed. A quick internet search came up with a cheap solution, an upside-down hanging basket outer with a weight on top. Once they got used to it, the pigeons carried on visiting. We even get visits from crows and jackdaws!

For the smaller birds, we bought some bird feeders. We hung them from the bottom of the bird table. It did not take long for a wide variety of smaller birds to find them and start visiting regularly. As the weather got hotter, we grew concerned that there wasn’t enough water. To resolve this, we bought a bird bath. However, it did not last long and we replaced it with a plastic plant tray. It has been doing the job well for a few years now.

The bird table was starting to deteriorate a lot. Instead of disposing of it and buying a new one, my partner repurposed some parts and created a new floor for the table. He also purchased a simple wooden post which we used as a stake to put it into the ground. Squirrels were becoming something of an issue. A plastic tube over the post soon sorted this out.

After a while, we started to get another visitor to the water tray, a hedgehog! A bonus indeed and one we were keen to encourage the visits. I started putting a small amount of food out for them. The local cats kept eating it which was frustrating. We bought a hog house as my partner’s health was failing and he was less up to the physical task of building one to resolve the issue and started putting the food and a small water bowl in there for them. We also noticed some smaller creatures making use of the hog house.

Another addition was a log pile constructed from a pack of cheap garden bordering. Some of the smaller visitors have set up their homes in the log pile. We’ve been very fortunate to be able to observe the comings and goings as we set up a selection of cameras in the garden. They are cheap and they work well.

The last addition was a bird box which was used by a blue tit to nest, lay and raise her young.

The opinions that are expressed in this post is my own and not that of the owners or other users of this website.