20 ways to attract wildlife into your garden/ backyard

So true about coverage plants. The neighbour cut down a large elder in the Autumn/Winter. Such a shame as it was a haven for wildlife. Every year it would attract bees and butterflies with the flowers, then birds would feast on the berries or shelter in the branches. Too many people like pristine gardens and now there is a passion for the dratted astro turf, possibly the most unappealing and anti-eco product ever.

Bees love Agapanthus and Weigela. Weigela also provides good coverage once it reaches a good size & looks lovely in Spring/early summer…

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The video is not really that much use for the average British garden which tend to be small . Ok if you own acres in Canada or America .

You can do things on a smaller scale, it doesn’t have to be like the video.

I remember making a month attractor to smear on tree trunks.
It was a mix of sugar, stale beer, treacle etc gently simmered.
It certainly worked during the summer months , moths a plenty.

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So what did you do with them?

I saw a carpet moth on my door the other day, it was very pretty.

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I didn’t do anything with them, I just left them in peace after having a look.
I was just a kid, I had a book about outdoorsy type projects you could do at home, some of which would not be considered appropriate today.

I made an insect killing jar, the idea was to deposit some plaster of Paris at the bottom with a little ethyl acetate to put them to sleep. On a lighter note I made a pooter to collect insects and examine them.
I put a vivarium together out of bits and pieces I found and kept a couple of toads.

Times and attitudes change says I stating the obvious :wink:

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It sounds like typical boyhood fun and games :joy: At least you didn’t pull off their little legs or wings.

I like the sound of the vivarium! I did something similar with beetles though, just made little places for them to “live”. Not that they appreciated it :roll_eyes: And worm houses in large jars so I could see their tunnels.

Nobody does this much anymore. Although there are a few country parks near me who have little “bushcraft” sessions for school kids, and they make fun stuff like this, but its all very safe and the classes don’t last for long (just in case the kids get too mucky, eat mushrooms, or get their frogs to fight!)

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Too right!

I always found beetles to be a little stuck up and ungrateful;-)

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I have a great variety of slugs and snails in my garden all I have to do is plant plants .

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Tell me about it…I have shiny trails all over mine, and they are in containers too :roll_eyes: I can never catch them in the act either.

Leave your shoes out … here in London the urban fox will steal one.

What better wildlife could you hope for?

… wish I had a number for the Beaufort Hunt.

Tut -Tut!

My BH is a gardener and all her customers want butterflies but they don’t want to attract caterpillars .She’s given up trying to explain.

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We get blackbirds, starlings, sparrows, butterflies - and slugs…

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I get sparrows, pigeons blue tits, robins, seagulls, magpies, crows and squirrels. I have cleared spaces where I intend to place bird feeders for the colder weather, and I’ll be kind to the squirrels and give them a little table of their own too!

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We don’t get a lot of birds in our garden but this one was quite bold and came quite close to our garden :slight_smile:

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And this was a better shot from our previous garden:

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And we stroll about on the Roman Road where there is wild life:

Enough! I don’t just take bird pics.

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We have an abundance of wildlife in our garden,mainly due i think to the fact that at the back of our garden is a canal.
We had a cheeky newt come into the lounge earlier this year,very sweet,but put it where he/she belongs
It`s lovely to see the barges go by.too,and on occasions a fallow deer and very rarely but so welcome a lovely handsome stag.
You cant beat nature.

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We don’t see any greenfinches now or coaltits, the other day i saw a black cap it’s been years since i saw one. We only have 1 squirrel visit our garden because there’s a small wood down the path from us.