Wild About Gardens, for the benefit of people and wildlife

Why wildlife gardening matters

Gardening is a beautiful hobby. We choose plants for their colour, scent, or architectural beauty and the result is always unique.

But there is another dimension besides. By providing shelter for wildlife, choosing certain kinds of plants, and looking after your garden in a particular way, you can encourage another whole display of colour, movement and sound.

Once you start, wildlife gardening becomes much more than just making friends with the local birds, hedgehogs and dragonflies. It?s a way of connecting to the whole web of life. Years ago, the countryside was rich in wild plants and animals but today that?s no longer true. Many of the creatures that thrive in gardens ? for example frogs, goldfinches and sparrows ? are having a hard time in their old haunts. What gardeners do to help makes a real difference.

And for the first time, there?s solid scientific evidence to show what really works. Research by Sheffield University has found that the key features are trees, dead wood, water, and a real variety of plant shapes and sizes.

Once we provide these simple needs, we can see gardens not just as our outdoor rooms, but as an interconnected network of green patches that together amount to a very special nature reserve ? whether in the heart of the metropolis, or within the wider countryside.

BBC Breathing Places encourages us all to 'do one thing' for wildlife and there's no better place to start than close to home - in your own garden.