Gardens

Gardens are one of the easiest places to turn into a wildlife haven, often because they’re just outside your front door! You can encourage in so much wildlife by choosing flowers that support our native insects, letting areas grow wild or even having a pond. It’s thought that there are 24 million gardens in the UK so imagine the incredible network of nature we could create across our towns, villages and cities by making our own green spaces a little more friendly for nature.

But even if you don’t have a garden, balconies, windowsills and doorsteps can provide vital resting and refuelling spaces for our wildlife. Below you’ll find multiple links to information to help you create a wildlife hotspot on your doorstep.

• Wildlife friendly planting
  • Make new wildlife friendly plants to share: RSPB – make new wildlife plants
  • Grow a tree for wildlife: RSPB – grow a tree
  • Grow flowers for butterflies: RSPB – grow flowers for butterflies
  • Grow food for moths: RSPB – grow food for moths
  • Grow flowers for bees: RSPB – grow flowers that bees love
  • Gardening for bees: Devon Wildlife Trust – get your garden buzzing
  • Planting in containers: The wildlife Trust – make a container garden for wildlife
  • Create a vertical garden: The Wildlife Trust – vertical gardening


• Sustainable practices
  • Create nature highways and byways: RSPB – create nature highways and byways
  • The Wildlife Trust’s Guide to Wildlife Gardening: Devon Wildlife Trust – Wildlife Gardening
  • Go Chemical free in your garden: The Wildlife Trust – How to make your garden chemical free
  • Go Peat free in your garden: The Wildlife Trust – How to go peat free at home
  • Reduce water consumption in your garden: RSPB – Eco garden tips
  • Make a compost heap: RSPB – make a compost heap
  • Create a leaf mould cage: RSPB – create a leaf mould cage
  • Make your own peat free compost: The wildflower garden – Peat free gardening
  • Exeter Wildlife Gardening Award: Devon Wildlife Trust – Exeter Wildlife Gardening Award


• Building bug, bat and bird boxes
  • Build a bug Hotel: RSPB – Build a Bug Hotel
  • Build a bee hotel: The Wildlife Trust – Build a bee hotel
  • Build a bat box: Peoples Trust for Endangered Species – Build a bat box
  • Build a swift box: RSPB – Create a high home for swifts
  • Build a bird box: RSPB – Build a bird box
  • Build a bird bath: RSPB – DIY bird bath
  • Provide bushes for nesting birds: The Wildlife Trust – How to provide bushes for nesting birds
  • Building a wildlife pond: The Wildlife Trust – How to build a pond
  • Create a hedgehog hole: The Wildlife Trust – How to create a hedgehog hole
  • Build a hedgehog home: The Wildlife Trust – How to build a hedgehog home


• Feeding birds and other wildlife
  • Feed the hedgehogs: RSPB – make a hedgehog café
  • Make bird feeders: Natural History Museum – How to make a bird feeder
  • Make fat cakes for birds: National Trust – How to make fat cakes for birds