
Homes for wildlife
Our gardens and community green spaces can be havens for all sorts of wildlife. Create homes for birds, hedgehogs and insects with these tips
Our gardens and community green spaces are increasingly important for wildlife – so doing whatever you can to boost biodiversity in your patch is a good way to help all sorts of creatures, from bees and butterflies to badgers and bats.
It's estimated that almost 90% of households in the UK have a garden – together covering more than 400,000 hectares. In fact, according to the British Trust for Ornithology, the UK's gardens cover an area that's larger than Suffolk!
And even small outdoor spaces can help nature thrive – for example, with nectar-rich plants growing in window boxes, or in pots on patios and balconies.

Sunflowers in patio pots. Photo by Antonio Castellano on Unsplash
All animals need food and water – and also a place to live. There are lots of ways you can create wildlife habitats in your garden – here are just a few ideas.
Homes for birds
One of the easiest ways to help wild birds – and to attract more of them to your garden – is to put up a nesting box. Within 10 years a single nest box can provide shelter for 100 baby blue tits – and as blue tits love to eat aphids and other garden pests, it's helpful to have them around!

National Nest Box Week encourages people to provide more nesting sites for birds, and runs from 14 February each year. See the website for ideas for choosing, building and siting nest boxes.
Nest boxes are not just used over the egg-laying season: many birds will use them to roost in during cold weather. These boxes are frequently communal, with many residents packing in together for extra warmth – once 63 wrens were found roosting together.
If you only have space for one nest box, consider installing one for swifts. Until recently, swifts would have made their homes under eaves – but modern buildings lack the nooks and crannies they need, so swifts are struggling to find nesting and brooding sites.
This has had an impact on swift populations in the UK, contributing to a decline in numbers of 62% between 1995 and 2021. Swifts are now on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern in the UK. So putting up a swift box could really help these wonderful birds.
Alongside nesting boxes, it's a good idea to provide nesting material too. This can be any natural fibre, or plant materials such as straw, twigs, dry grasses, leaves, or moss raked from lawns. Offer a mix of strong materials to construct the nest, and softer materials to line and insulate the nest and provide cushioning for eggs. Avoid using anything that may have been treated with pesticides or weedkiller.

Put materials in a hanging basket or empty suet feeder – or just leave in a pile in a dry, sheltered place that birds can access easily. Placing nesting materials near the nest box makes it easier for birds to gather what they need, without them using up valuable energy reserves.
Growing some dense, protective plants in your garden will also give birds a place to shelter and roost. Holly and ivy are both great for wildlife, and will provide food for birds in the form of berries – as well as the insects that are attracted by the blossoms. Hazel, pyracantha and hawthorn are also good choices.
Homes for hedgehogs
Piling up leaves and twigs in a quiet corner can help hedgehogs as well as birds. This creates a safe area for them to hide and hibernate in – and is a nature-friendly alternative to burning garden debris on a bonfire.

Hedgehogs may also find a home in log piles, gaps under sheds, under hedges, or in compost heaps – so take care not to disturb or harm them, especially when strimming or turning over compost.
You can buy ready-made hedgehog houses – or, if you're handy with a hammer, build one. There are step-by-step instructions for this on the British Hedgehog Preservation Society's website.
Hedgehogs also need to room to roam – they can often travel up to two miles every night, in search of food and a mate. According to Hedgehog Street, one of the main reasons for the decline of hedgehog populations in the UK is the secure barriers that surround many gardens – these are reducing the amount of land available to foraging hedgehogs.

So one of the best ways to help hedgehogs is to create 'hedgehog highways' – small, hedgehog-sized holes (13cm x 13cm) at the base of fences and walls, so that hedgehogs can get from A to B. And if you encourage your neighbours to do the same (and encourage them to turn their own gardens into hedgehog havens) you could create a network of habitats for these endearing creatures.
Hedgehog numbers have declined by at least 30% in the last 10 years, and are now listed as 'near threatened' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list – so let's do all we can to help them.
Homes for insects
The decline in numbers of bees and other insects in recent years is truly worrying. Much of our food depends on insect pollination, and insects are an important part of the food chain – an essential source of food for hedgehogs, bats and many birds.

Help insects by providing them with nectar-rich plants, and a safe place to hide and rest. You can buy bee houses in all shapes and sizes – the RSPB has a good range.
Or make your own. To create a home for solitary bees, cut the top off a plastic bottle and fill with short lengths of bamboo canes – you can push the canes into some plasticene in the base of the bottle to stop them slipping out. Position the bee house close to nectar-rich plants, and tilt it down slightly to prevent the container filling with rain water.

Other good insect habitats include upturned terracotta pots, piles of fir cones, and decaying wood (great for beetles) such as branches and logs.
However, one of the simplest ways to provide homes for insects is to avoid being too tidy. Letting a patch of grass grow long (good for nesting bumblebees), leaving dead stems in situ over winter, and having a wild corner will all help boost insect populations.
Little Green Space February 2025
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