Wildlife gardening can never replace natural habitats but it is possible to create miniature habitats in the garden that will supplement natural habitats. These are interesting and they attract a lot of wildlife. The habitats commonly recreated in gardens are:

Garden Pond

All living things require water and a garden pond is a wildlife magnet. You might see water boatmen, frogs, newts, diving beetles, dragonflies and damselflies. Birds, hedgehogs and foxes may visit for a drink. Natural water bodies are disappearing fast due to, for example, drainage of fenlands and filling in of ponds because of excessive fears about safety. Some animals such as frogs are increasingly dependent on garden ponds. A pond and its margins provides an opportunity to grow an assortment of aquatic plants such as yellow flag, purple loosestrife, water lilies, water crowfoot, frog-bit, marsh marigold, rushes and reedmaces. Avoid steeply sloping or slippery plastic sides. Hedgehog are good swimmers but if they cannot get out they become exhausted. At least one gently sloping side will allow animals to wash, drink and get in and out.

Woodland Edge

A woodland edge is a very dynamic natural habitat with birds and butterflies in the air, squirrels and mice foraging on the ground and wild flowers in abundance in the semi shade. Woodlands have been chopped down to make way for buildings and roads and existing woodlands are seldom managed with the respect they once were when we depended on wood for building materials and firewood. Most of us do not have the room for a woodland but we can plant individual trees. These are useful in their own right, removing carbon dioxide (a 'greenhouse' gas) from the air, supporting myriad insects, and providing a songpost for birds. With a small number of trees we can create a woodland edge that will be popular with birds, hedgehogs and all manner of mini beasts that will live amongst the leaf litter. Ferns, mosses and lichens will grow on fallen branches and it is an opportunity to grow wonderful woodland wild flowers such as wood anemones, wild daffodils, bluebells, snowdrops and primroses. Most woodland wild flowers are spring-flowering to take advantage of the light before the leafy canopy develops and casts a heavy shade. If you have the space, oak is the most valuable native tree, supporting 284 different species of wild animal! Holly will provide berries for birds and food for the holly blue butterfly in its larval stage.

Wild Flower Meadow

Wildflower meadows are a wonderful sight - full of colour and buzzing with insects in spring and summer. Meadows offer food and shelter for invertebrates including bees, hoverflies, caterpillars, ladybirds, grasshoppers and crickets. Butterflies such as the meadow brown, small copper, common blue, meadow brown and green hairstreak lay their eggs on meadow plants. Amphibians such as frogs and toads will find shelter and insects to eat. Shrews, moles, voles, mice and other small mammals will find a home here and larger mammalian predators such as foxes may visit. Birds, particularly finches, will feed on seeds. Blackbirds, thrushes, starlings, swallows, martins and swifts as well as bats will feed on the insects which fly above meadows.

Meadows were once a common sight but this important habitat has largely disappeared (a decrease of 95% since 1945). Fertilisers have been applied to the land and they make grass grow vigorously - so much so that the relatively fragile wild flowers cannot compete. Over-grazing by animals has also taken its toll. Field edges were once a haven for wild flowers but weedkillers now drift and kill them. To create a meadow you need to make sure the soil is poor, if necessary growing 'hungry' vegetables such as cabbages for a year on the area or not feeding an existing lawn and mowing it and taking away the clippings. Sow wild flower seeds such as bird's foot trefoil, meadow buttercup, meadow cranesbill, ox-eye daisy and yellow rattle. On nutrient-rich ground you can grow cornfield annuals instead such as corn cockle, corn marigold, chamomile, corn poppy, scentless mayweed, scarlet pimpernel and wild pansy. Follow your seed merchant's advice about the mowing regime carefully. Mowing is carried out less often than with a grass lawn but the timing is critical.