Wildlife gardening

Welcome a range of wildlife species to your garden with our handy wildlife gardening articles, including how-to guides, advice on the best plants, and which species you might find.

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Great spotted woodpecker on feeder.

Wildlife Gardening

How to make your garden wildlife-friendly

Tadpoles. © Pauline Lewis/Getty

How to monitor your garden wildlife

A woman takes a break from working on her allotment to read a book.

People & Wildlife

Best wildlife gardening books

Illustrations by Stuart Jackson-Carter

Wildlife Gardening

How to make a bog garden for wildlife

Blue tit perched on the branch of a spring flowering crab apple tree

Wildlife Gardening

Best garden plants for wildlife

Rain garden illustration. © Stuart Jackson-Carter

Wildlife Gardening

How to make a rain garden for wildlife

Gardener laying in wheelbarrow in garden.

Best gifts for wildlife gardeners

Illustration by Jill Calder/Central Illustration

People & Wildlife

How do you deal with 'pests' if you love wildlife?

Cornflowers © Rike / Getty

Wildlife Gardening

How to sow a wildflower mini-meadow

Gardens can create ideal habitats for wildlife in rural and urban areas. © Barry Herman/Getty

Wildlife Garden

Truth or fiction: gardens can save our wildlife

Creating a wildlife pond

Common frog sitting on pond weed in the sunshine © Alasdair James / Getty

Wildlife Gardening

How to build and care for your wildlife pond

Illustrations by Stuart Jackson Carter

Wildlife Gardening

How to make a wildlife pond

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Identify Wildlife

How to identify pond wildlife

Gardening for birds

A coal tit and a blue tit feeding on peanuts either side of a hanging bird feeder, in Cumbria UK. © Fiona McAllister/Getty

Wildlife Gardening

How to attract birds to your garden

House Sparrows (Passer domesticus). Male on left, female on right. Two feeding on a peanut feeder in a garden

Wildlife Gardening

How to feed your garden birds ethically

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Best five bird feeds for garden birds

Illustrations by Alan Batley

How to make a bird bath

Illustrations by Alan Batley

Make a fat cake for your garden birds to enjoy

Illustrations by Alan Batley

How to make a pine cone birdfeeder

Small black, white and pale orange coal tit bird perched on a seed-filled bird feeder

Best garden bird feeders: attract birds to your garden

Illustrations by Alan Batley

How to make a bird bath

Illustrations by Alan Batley

How to make an orange birdfeeder

Goldfinch. © Edmund Fellowes/BTO

Study reveals the benefits of feeding garden birds

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Bird health at risk from garden feeders

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Why you could be making bird beaks grow longer

A pair of blue tits at a nestbox. © Stef Bennett/Getty

Wildlife Gardening

Garden bird nestbox guide: which species use them, how and when to clean them, how to put them up

Making a nestbox. © Getty

How to make a garden bird nestbox

A female blackbird collects nesting material. © Dagmar Schelske/EyeEm/Getty

How to make a nesting bundle

Wren at nest amongst ivy with food in beak.

Identify Wildlife

How to identify bird and mammal nests

Gardening for bees, butterflies, and other invertebrates

Small tortoiseshell butterfly on ivy flowers. © Estuary Pig/Getty

Wildlife Gardening

Best plants to grow for pollinators in your wildlife garden

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Wildlife Gardening

How to make a butterfly-friendly garden

Illustrations by Alan Batley

How to make your own butterfly feeder

Illustration by Stuart Jackson Carter

Wildlife Gardening

How to make a bee-friendly garden

A peacock butterfly caterpillar on a nettle leaf.

Wildlife Gardening

Caterpillar foodplants for garden butterflies

Add the tubes. © Sarah Cuttle

Help your local solitary bees and make a bee hotel

A red admiral butterfly with closed wings feeding on lavender flowers.

Wildlife Gardening

Best flowering plants for butterflies throughout the year

Gardening for reptiles and amphibians

A common toad. © Sandra Stanbridge/Getty

Wildlife Gardening

How you can help hibernating amphibians

Illustrations by Alan Batley

How to make a reptile rockery

Illustrations by Alan Batley

How to make your own frog hibernaculum

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Garden wildlife species in the UK

Male blackbird. © Duncan Shaw/Getty

Common blackbird guide: species facts, how to identify males, females and juveniles

European hedgehog on grass

Hedgehog guide: where to see and how to help local hedgehogs

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) in spring

European robin guide: diet, habitat and species facts

Male stag beetle in hand. © Aimi MacInnes

Insects & Invertebrates

Stag beetle guide: how to identify, and how to help them in your garden

Male house sparrow. © Edmund Fellowes/BTO

House sparrow guide: species facts, how to identify, and how to put up a nestbox for them

ockchafer (melolontha melolontha) ©Getty

Insects & Invertebrates

Cockchafer guide: how to identify and where to see