Table Of Content

Create a sanctuary for nature THE BUTTERFLY BROTHERS 001-003_Titles.indd 2 21/01/2020 12:04 W I L D YOUR GARDEN Create a sanctuary for nature THE BUTTERFLY BROTHERS 001-003_Titles.indd 3 21/01/2020 12:04 CONTENTS 6 Foreword 10 ASSESS YOUR SPACE 58 WILDLIFE PONDS 12 Introduction 60 Introduction 14 Know your garden’s aspect 62 A natural pond 16 Work with existing features 72 A formal pond 18 Plan for new features 80 A bog garden 24 Plant for nature 86 A container pond 26 Plan your garden design 92 NECTAR BORDERS 28 TREES AND SHRUBS 94 Introduction 30 Introduction 96 A nectar border 32 A native hedgerow 104 A limestone bank 40 A coppice belt 46 A wild fence 52 Choose shrubs for wildlife 004-005_Contents.indd 4 21/01/2020 12:04 58 WILDLIFE PONDS 112 WILDFLOWER MEADOWS 174 A dry stone wall 60 Introduction 114 Introduction 178 A log wall 62 A natural pond 116 A perennial wildflower meadow 72 A formal pond 126 A cornfield annual meadow 182 Plant lists 80 A bog garden 134 A flowering lawn 186 Bird boxes 86 A container pond 142 A woodland glade 187 Index 191 Acknowledgments 92 NECTAR BORDERS 148 WELCOME MORE WILDLIFE 192 About the authors 94 Introduction 150 Introduction 96 A nectar border 152 Habitat heaps 104 A limestone bank 156 A reptile-friendly compost bin 160 Bird boxes and feeders 166 Insect hotels 170 Bat boxes 004-005_Contents.indd 5 21/01/2020 12:04 WILD YOUR GARDEN 6 FOREWORD We grew up in the nineties, completely immersed in the natural world. We spent our first years of childhood growing up in a wonderful, semi-detached Victorian house on a busy street in a small town. Looking out of the front bay window, we could see an average-sized gravel driveway, then the pavement and then the road. A large privet hedge housed the resident dunnocks, along with a mock orange, forsythia, and a flowering currant bush. The back garden told a different story. The plot was relatively narrow but very, very long. We used to walk out into the garden, up the paved path along the edge of the lawn, past an old apple tree (Dad built us a fantastic treehouse there), and on to the bottom of the garden. There stood a big old shed that was completely engulfed by a huge climbing rose, while the area beside it contained a fantastic mixture of brambles, nettles, old sheets of plywood to pinch for den-building, and a compost bin full of creepy crawlies – including the largest house spider imaginable! The front privet hedge wrapped around the side of the house and ran the full length of one side of the plot, providing a welcome retreat for the colony of house sparrows that lived there, a plentiful species back then. We would make occasional gaps in the hedge in order to carry out regular apple scrumping raids into neighbouring gardens at the end of summer. On the opposite side of the garden was Mum’s pride and joy – a wonderful border that she grew all sorts of great plants in. There, depending on the season, we’d enjoy irises, geraniums, snowdrops, sunflowers, gooseberry bushes, violets, and bluebells. Mum’s interest in gardening, combined with Dad’s passion for fishing and a childhood spent searching for birds’ nests, was bound to shape us into enthusiastic naturalists. 006-009_Introduction.indd 6 21/01/2020 12:04 FOREWORD 7 Growing up, the two of us would spend hours knelt beside the wildlife pond in our back garden. Later, we moved to the other side of town, into a small bungalow surrounded by conifers. One day, Dad proudly brought home the battered old shell of a fibreglass pond. As he placed it down on the ground, he miscalculated the position of one of the conifer stumps, which smashed straight through its middle! The shell was soon repaired, and after much digging the pond was finished. On the 4th August 1996, we officially sat beside our first ever wildlife pond. It’s safe to say this was the most influential moment of our childhoods. We spent countless hours knelt beside the water’s edge, spotting water boatmen, turning over stones looking for frogs, and stealing old maggots from Dad’s bait box and tying them to fishing line to catch greedy smooth newts from holes in the weed. We would often ask to stay up past our bedtime to watch bats hunting insects over the pond. The “feral” childhood we had back then is now a very rare thing indeed. The ever-growing demand for new housing estates has resulted in a huge loss of wild places, such as derelict brownfield sites and waste ground, where children and wildlife could happily coexist. 006-009_Introduction.indd 7 21/01/2020 12:04 WILD YOUR GARDEN 8 By reimagining how we use our gardens, we can all do our bit to support local wildlife and tackle the climate crisis. And as for our own gardens, how many of us can honestly say we live in an area rich in birdsong, hedgehogs, bats, and dragonflies? A peek into a neighbour’s garden may reveal nothing but mown grass and paving, or – worse still – artificial grass and plastic plants. How many fences nowadays have holes or gaps for hedgehogs to use as they roam the neighbourhood? How many ponds are there in the other gardens on the street for the local frogs and newts? How can birds and bats access roof spaces now that builders use tightly fitting plastic soffits and fascia boards? Even the green space we do have is often effectively sterile. Flower beds and ornamental shrubs are more often than not tainted by slug pellets and chemical insecticides. Then there’s our choice of plants: exotics may look stunning, but they don’t support our invertebrate species nearly as well as natives do. 006-009_Introduction.indd 8 21/01/2020 12:04 FOREWORD 9 We only need to think back to primary school lessons about the food chain to realize what a problem this is. Vegetation is eaten by insects, which in turn are preyed upon by birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and so on. If the insects are dying off due to chemicals and non-native plants, what does that mean for the rest of our native wildlife? Throughout the world, natural habitats are under threat. In Europe, for instance, more than 50 per cent of grasslands are endangered or vulnerable, while the UK is estimated to have lost more than 97 per cent of its meadows and at least a quarter of a million miles of hedgerow since WW2. Now, more than ever before, our wildlife is in trouble. Many species, from wildflowers to great crested newts, grasshoppers to house sparrows, are in desperate need of our help (and that’s without even mentioning the climate crisis). But, in spite of all the doom and gloom, there is hope – and it starts on our own doorsteps. Imagine what would happen if we transformed our outdoor spaces – the rural gardens, the urban balconies, and everything in between – and turned them into spaces for nature; if everyone with the means to do so planted a tree, put up a bird box, dug a pond, and let the grass grow long; if we reclaimed the wilder, richer, more birdsong-filled gardens of our childhoods. All it would take is for a few people on each street to work together, and before long we would create a nationwide network of habitats. By taking positive steps in our own gardens, no matter how small, together we can really make a difference. Jim and Joel Ashton 006-009_Introduction.indd 9 21/01/2020 12:04 010-011_CH1_Opener_Assess_Space.indd 10 21/01/2020 12:04