How to monitor your garden wildlife

Watching your garden wildlife is not only enjoyable; recording your observations will contribute to important national data.

• It is easy to contribute to national monitoring schemes, especially now you can enter the data online, which avoids the hassle of completing forms and posting them back. It also means that your data can be analysed quickly and that you get feedback promptly. Many organisations run training programmes and national days on which you can attend events to learn more about the wildlife in your garden.
   
• There are two garden bird-monitoring schemes. The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch has been running since 1979; all you have to do is record the number of birds you see in your garden for any hour during a specified winter weekend. The BTO’s Garden Birdwatch involves monitoring the number of birds in your garden throughout the year. Both supply fascinating information on the changing numbers of garden species.
   
• Mammals are harder to monitor, but you can contribute records to schemes run by the BTO (through Garden BirdWatch) and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species’ Living with Mammals survey.
   
• Moths are one of the more diverse groups of garden wildlife, but they are often overlooked. Moth trapping is best done on a warm, cloudy, still night, but remember that moths are active throughout the year, so you need to trap regularly to identify the full range of species in your garden.
   
• Alana Ecology provide advice on the different sorts of moth trap available. You can also participate in National Moth Night run by Butterfly Conservation.
   
• Keep a diary of the events in your garden. For example, when does frogspawn appear in your pond? When do winter redwings arrive? When do different trees flower? When do the first spring migrants, such as swallows or house martins, appear?

• Moths
  You need a good field guide and plenty of practice to identify moths, but it’s worth the effort. Trapping throughout the year will reveal the diversity of species in your garden.
   
• Foxes
  Keep a diary of their changing behaviour, such as which fox is dominant at different times of the year, when the dog fox feeds the vixen and when he stops, and any injuries incurred in fights.
   
• Newts
  Count the number of newts in your pond each breeding season. They eat frog tadpoles, so monitoring will enable you to see what impact (if any) they have on frog numbers.
   
• Badgers
  If you feed badgers, sketch the size and shape of their face stripes and ear tufts, and tail shape; these will enable you to recognise individuals and monitor their comings and goings in your garden.

• Bees 
  Many bee species are declining, so learning to identify and monitor them is particularly useful. It will also show you which plants different species prefer and where they nest.
   
• Spiders 
  Many different species of spider occur in gardens. Searching through dense vegetation and under logs and stones will produce a remarkably long species list.
   
• Swifts 
  Monitor when you see swifts. Early arrivals can be easy to miss if they’re still heading north. Summer screaming parties are harder to miss; a sudden silence is a sign of their departure.
   
• Chiffchaffs 
  Often heard but rarely seen, chiffchaffs are surprisingly common in gardens with mature trees. Weekly monitoring provides data on the importance of gardens for different species.
   
• Painted lady butterflies
  Some years, painted lady butterflies migrate to Britain from Africa in great numbers; in others, they are rarely seen. Record your sightings and submit them to Butterfly Conservation.
   
• Woodmouse 
  This is the commonest mammal in gardens and an important food source for urban tawny owls. Trap in spring or autumn to see how many are using your patch.
   
• Frog spawn
  The date frogs start laying their spawn is variable, and a cold snap can delay this by some weeks. Record both when the spawn is laid and when the froglets emerge from the pond.
   
• Orange tip caterpillar
  Carefully search the seed pods of jack-by-the-hedge and lady’s smock to find them; there is usually only one per plant.

• Newt counting is best done on a still, warmish night with a torch. Count the number of newts seen in a set time (20 minutes), then repeat the count two or three times a year before the pond vegetation gets too dense.
   
• In spring, watch where birds are building nests or which nestboxes they’re using and map their approximate positions without disturbing them. Look for the nests in autumn to see exactly where they were. Be thorough – it’s amazing how many you can miss, especially those of species such as dunnocks. 
   
• Start compiling lists of the species of insects in your garden. This may sound a little daunting, but begin with some of the easier groups, such as beetles, bees, dragonflies and damselflies. Once you have mastered them, try some of the more complex ones.
   
• Use Longworth or other small mammal live traps (available from Alana Ecology) to catch woodmice, other rodents or shrews in your garden. These can be marked by clipping a bit of fur on the rump with scissors to see how many different mice are using your garden: there may be more than 20 in a typical suburban setting. You need to bait traps with casters (blowfly larvae) in case you catch a shrew.
   
• See where different species prefer to lay their eggs (food plants, deep shade or sunlit patches, etc) and use this information to help plan your garden to provide more egg-laying sites. Also record which species you see each week to give you an idea of how they change throughout the year and from year to year.

If you enjoyed this, read the previous and next in the series - how to make your garden walls more wildlife friendly.