Projects On The Go!

My latest project is creating a wildlife garden for birds, mammals, amphibians and insects! It will include bird boxes, bird feeders, insect and bee hotels and feeders, butterfly sugar feeders, a pond, a bog (for all the frogs!), a wild flower meadow, a dead wood pile, a soil mount/compost heap, willow and bamboo T-pee and lots more! Here is a link to a great website by the BBC explaining how to attract animals to your garden too!

Recently I have placed various butterfly feeders around my patch using different types of food, including things like orange, honey and apple to see which one they favoured. The apple was by far the least favourite. Feeders such as the one below (not a photo I have taken) are a very simple way to help your garden pollinators. You can even make one if you like!

WINTER WILDLIFE

The snow is a great way to see what wildlife visits your garden...so far i have found a wren, a badger, a cat and what i think to be a hedgehog! 

Here is the story of my wildlife garden (2013 - 2014)

15/04/13

I will add a stream and a solar pump to the pond and also i will plant many shrubs and flowers to make it look as natural as possible, including ferns and weeds.

Here is the pond which I hand dug.

The cotswolds gravel path:

Here is the unfinished wigwam which i am also going to grow ivy up!

The bird box/feeder bar, I will also be growing climbing plants up the poles to create a more natural effect!

At the moment, it doesn't look the most wildlife friendly garden but i assure you it will when finished!

I'm making the stream and shallowing the pond so that wildlife (and my dog) cannot fall in and drown.

28/05/13 - I have now filled up the pond with various rocks and stones to create a natural habitat for wildlife. I am also bidding for a solar-powered water pump (hopefully saving electricity!)

I will upload some pics when it is all set up! :)

3/08/13 - I have been planting lots of heathers, shrubs and other flowers to liven up the garden and I have even added some solar powered lamps to light up the path at night!

It is very important to choose pollinator-friendly plants for your garden so that insects like butterflies and bees can thrive. 

Here are some of my latest photographs of my wildlife garden in full bloom!

Most of these plants (such as the foxgloves) were self-seeded meaning that I had no input in planting them. I suspect a bird of the wind may have transported the seeds. I really like the element of surprise of what might appear...

The bees love the fox glove flowers!

As you can clearly see, my wildlife garden has flourished since last year! I am amazed how "wild" it has become and I love to sit in my hammock and spectate all the different bird species fly by (including Herons, Sparrow hawks and Green spotted woodpeckers!) I have many wildlife habitats included in my relatively small garden including a pond, a boggy area with frog box, a flower patch for the pollinators, a hedgehog box surrounded by plants, lots of bird boxes/feeders, a un-weeded, wild patch with with self seeded flowers and even a makeshift hide!

………..and a clock.

WHAT A TRANSFORMATION!!

Before:

After:

It just shows that you can convert a bare, wildlife unfriendly area in to a wildlife haven in just a year! The wildlife garden already attracted herons which I had never seen in my patch before. Birds are using it to bathe; Frogs are laying frogspawn and birds are nesting in the bird boxes. There have also been many butterflies visiting the wild flowers. It has completely transformed my patches biodiversity.