Wildlife Gardening: For Everyone and Everything (The Wildlife Trusts)
An easy-to-follow gardening guide endorsed by the Wildlife Trusts and the RHS to help you encourage different types of wildlife into your garden.
Wildlife Gardening for Everyone (and Everything) is a useful and easy-to-follow gardening guide with a strong focus on the different types of wildlife you can attract to your garden. The book breaks down by accessible groups of species, and each chapter explains what they require to thrive, what their role in the garden is and how they contribute to the garden ecosystem.
The first chapters begin with the favorites that all gardeners know and love, such as the pollinators, birds and amphibians. Later sections of the book explore species that are more likely to be overlooked, including the wasps, flies and spiders, explaining the crucial role they play and how to provide for them.
Every chapter will include wide-ranging suggestions of useful plants and projects that will be relevant to all, regardless of the size of their available space, ranging from an urban balcony or patio to a community or large garden. You will be encouraged not only to create but also to relax and observe the habitats in your garden through the year. Ultimately, this is a book about creating a space that's as much for you as it is for the other species you welcome into it, and about getting to know the wildlife around you.
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Community Reviews
The reason it's particularly brilliant is that it encourages you to consider your garden as a patch of the wider local ecosystem, with a particular leaning towards your average urban garden - which is what I have - though it also makes recommendations for everything from balconies upwards. Maybe you don't want a pond - how about cutting a hole in your gate for hedgehogs instead? The focus on wildlife makes it so much more than just another gardening book, and encourages your inner Attenborough to develop. The emphasis on habitat creation and the food chain is completely logical yet is left out of so many other books which focus solely on plants & design without the wider context.
Example - maybe you've hung a bird feeder but wonder why it's not being used. But is it hung in the right location? Is there shelter nearby for little birds to hide from predators when they feed? Are you using seeds your local birds like & is there anything else for them to eat nearby - caterpillars, etc?
I've found it brilliant for helping troubleshoot the things I've unknowingly been doing wrong, and am certain it will help me to help wildlife much more effectively.
It's also packed with projects to get you making your own wildlife ponds, bee nesters, hedgehog houses, bird feeders... and many more, brilliant for getting kids involved too. Quirky illustrations and clear & descriptive ID parades of native critters help you understand what you are/n't seeing out there.
The layout is great, with clear tables of plants to grow and ideas for planning your garden.
This is such a fab book, and an invaluable reference & guide. Really timely and essential reading for anyone with a patch who is concerned about pollinator losses, and who wants to help out our declining bee, butterfly & bird populations.
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