HAVE A WILD WINTER

Give your garden a few creature comforts and it will be a haven for wildlife in the harsh weather, says Monty Don

So many gardeners now realise that a rich and diverse wildlife is one of the best ways to ensure that your garden is healthy. There is also the growing awareness that our gardens are a vital habitat for a wide range of life. For example, hedgehogs are now much more common in gardens than in the agricultural countryside and song birds such as blackbirds and robins also thrive in back gardens.

But it is important to try to avoid creating a hierarchy of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ wildlife. For far too long gardeners have categorised too many things as ‘pests’ simply because they inconvenience our idea of a garden. Our pursuit for ‘perfection’ can upset the natural biodiversity so we are providing perfect conditions for slugs, caterpillars, aphids or moles to flourish and making it difficult for their predators to thrive. There may well be an imbalance in the wildlife in your garden but there are no pests. Inevitably, some creatures are more attractive than others but the goal is to create a balance of predator and prey that can sustain itself without destroying our garden. This invariably means increasing the range of species rather than the number of any one species.

A healthy, balanced wildlife population in a garden is a pyramid. The base is formed of insects and invertebrates; anything you can do to increase them will directly improve conditions for birds, bats, many mammals, amphibians and reptiles – as well as improving pollination for your beloved plants.

Long grass and dried stems make excellent winter cover for insects so resist the temptation to be too tidy. Leave seed heads of plants such as teasels, thistles and sunflowers as birds will pick them clean and the hollow stems provide safe winter shelter for insects. Your borders can be left untouched all winter without coming to any harm and then be tidied once growth begins in early spring.

Gather a wheelbarrow of leaves and tip it against a fence or in a quiet corner. This will make the perfect home for a hedgehog, toads (perhaps a frog or two) and innumerable insects and bacteria. Stack wood and bundles of prunings in a corner so small birds, voles, insects and a hedgehog – if you are lucky, they are becoming alarmingly scarce – can benefit from the cover.

Winter is a much better time to see garden birds than summer because there is so much less foliage for them to hide amongst. The short days also mean that the birds are busier seeking out their food whether in the soil, the seed heads of your borders or on a bird table; watching them at work is one of the great pleasures of the winter garden. Put out food for them, preferably out of reach of cats, rats and squirrels. Avoid seed mixes that have grain in them as this will only attract pigeons and rats. I buy my seed separately then make my own mix. It’s made predominantly from sunflower hearts and combined with dried mealworms, niger seed, kibbled suet, small amounts of grated cheese and windfall apples. It is important to spread some seeds for ground-feeding birds such as wrens, chaffinches and dunnocks, as well as to have peanuts and fat balls hanging that will attract the tit family and woodpeckers.

Finally, just because it’s winter don’t forget to leave fresh water out every day for the birds – especially when it is freezing. ■