The Wildlife Garden at The Crib , Shropshire

Managing your garden for wildlife adds an extra dimension for the enthusiastic gardener (or even the less enthusiastic gardener!) It is an exciting way of gardening and can help our native wildlife by providing food and habitat that may be in short supply in the wild. Even a small garden can be managed in such a way that birds and mammals become a part of the fabric of the garden, rather than occasional visitors.

After 12 years creating a wonderful wildlife garden in Oxfordshire I have moved to pastures new.  Gardening on the edge of a very large village surrounded by other gardens was an interesting exercise and over those years the wildlife that came to the garden and made its home there was fantastic - within just three years we had attracted 24 species of butterfly!  However I am now faced with almost a blank canvas in Shropshire.  Over time I will be making a new garden, and creating wildflower meadows, nectar borders, wildlife ponds, a vegetable plot and an orchard.  

The existing part of the garden had a couple of small flower borders, but otherwise was simply lawn.  However it was blessed with a few apple trees and a great mixed native hedge which has instantly provided a good habitat for birds.   Over time I will be documenting, on this website and eventually in a book,  the creation of the garden and the wildlife we attract, as and when it comes.

Progress in terms of the wildlife we are attracting has been rapid - especially regarding the bird and insect life.  You can click here to see what we have attracted so far.  A few small changes in any garden can make a huge difference to its value as a wildlife habitat.

One challenge in this garden is to preserve our fantastic views.  In the Oxfordshire garden, the objective was to screen the uglier views around us to create a protected wildlife haven within a not terribly attractive area.  Here we have the opposite but enviable task of including the surrounding landscape in our garden. The picture above shows the house in its beautiful landscape. 

In the two years we have been here we have made good progress towards our aims to create a really wonderful wildlife garden, full of interest all year round.  In that time we have sown a large wildflower meadow, created three smaller meadow areas by allowing the grass to grow and adding small wildflowers, planted a herb border and a nectar border, created two very large borders where nectar plants and grasses are being planted, established 40 fruit trees, created a bog garden with a winter stream and harvested lots of vegetables! Plus planted 400 native hedging plants.  The small copse has been thinned, a hedge laid in the midland style and grass paths sown.  And the Big Pond now really is a pond and not just a hole in the ground!   Already the wildlife is increasing day by day - butterfly numbers are noticeably greater than our first summer here and bird species and numbers continue to climb.  Gardening of any kind takes time and patience is essential but we have already made a great impact.

Garden Update March 2008

The winter months of 2007/2008 were mainly occupied with work on the Big Pond.  After finally taking the plunge and lining the huge hole after it became apparent that it would not hold water on its own (in spite of the heavy clay subsoil), native water lilies, oxygenators and other deep water natives were planted as the pond began to fill with rain water.  This filling process took a very long time, and the pond is only now completely full (early March).  This means it hasn't been possible to landscape the edges as with a pond of this size we couldn't really tell where the water level would be - it was almost impossible to level the edges even with the aid of a laser level.  Now the pond is full we can easily see how level the banks are and all is looking well.  The liner is now being tucked away under turf and soil to make the pond look as natural as possible and the next task is planting on the ledges and edges.  Wildlife has already found our new watery habitat - frogs, common and great crested newts, mallard, a heron, wagtails, water beetles - a lot of wildlife has used this habitat already inspite of its rather unfinished appearance!

Our second big task this winter was more fencing as we took possession of another, new, area of garden.  We have been fortunate to be able to purchase a very tiny piece of hazel coppice alongside the new part of the garden.  This area is awash with bluebells in May and now it actually belongs to us I have made several forays into 'Dormouse Wood' to check out the other plants.  Ramsons, primroses, moscatel, yellow archangel and a range of ferns and mosses make this a really exciting area and I am looking forward to more botanising as other plants appear.

This is a really exciting addition to the garden and we hope to attract an even bigger range of wildlife now we have a proper, if tiny, piece of woodland.

The garden really seems to be coming together.  Last year we had a fantastic summer for vegetables (in spite of the flooding) and even picked a few apples from our fledgling orchard (Barnack Beauty, Sunset, King of the Pippins and Discovery).  Winter saw a consolidation of several projects including the Big Pond, and the acquisition of Dormouse Wood plus the start of a wildlife friendly annual border, a cornfield flower area, a large native plant bog garden and a path through the small copse.  Most importantly, the wildlife has increased tremendously as we have continued to provide food, water and shelter for the creatures round about us.  Its great to see our efforts working!

Winter vegetable garden

Last year's laid hedge

Crawl Wood, bordering the garden

Over time we hope to create a beautiful garden, where wildlife is welcome.  We are recording the butterflies and birds, running a moth trap, putting up bird boxes and creating log piles.  To check out the wildlife we have recorded so far, click here