It is a well-known fact that much of Britain's wildlife - from hedgehogs to bullfinches, is suffering an alarming decline in numbers, and as gardeners we have to take some of the responsibility. Despite our best intentions, we green-fingered types are in danger of harming the natural environment by creating 'manicured' gardens rather than 'wild' ones. In many cases we aspire to smooth stripy lawns, which we water and spray with chemicals that have long been banned in the agricultural world. We plant double begonias, which may look wonderful but provide no nectar for bugs and butterflies, and we bound our properties with larch lap fences instead of wildlife friendly hedges. As 12.5% of available land in the UK is made up of gardens, you can start to realise what a fantastic contribution we can make as individual gardeners to that wider environment. A natural garden is important if you care about the future of our country's wildlife population. All manner of creatures will buzz, beetle and scamper into your garden if it provides food, shelter and nesting sites. Not only will insects, birds and mammals benefit if you create a wildlife-friendly environment, you will benefit too: you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you are doing your bit to boost the numbers of native creatures and you'll also get enjoyment from watching many and varied species feed and nest in your garden.

Supplying ready made homes.

Often if you can provide a ready made home for your wildlife it can have a beneficial impact on the survival rates. By providing ready made shelters it saves the bug or bee or bat or bird from having to find and make their own. This saves lots of time and energy and therefore enables them to get on with other important tasks such as feeding and breeding.

Garden Organically if you can.

Firstly, it's important to embrace the idea of gardening in harmony with nature. That means turning your back on artificial fertilisers and feeding the soil with compost. Healthy soil means healthy plants, which are more able to resist disease. Dispensing with chemical pesticides allows nature to deal with infestations of aphids or slugs. These creatures provide food for other wildlife, such as blue tits, song thrushes and hedgehogs, and the more of these beneficial creatures you have in the garden, the fewer problems you will get from pests and diseases. Once you stop using chemicals, a harmonious, natural balance evolves and, of course, you will automatically have more bees, ladybirds and butterflies, because pesticides kill the 'nice' insects as well as the 'nasty' ones.

View our range of Hedgehog care products here https://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/collections/hedgehog-food

And our range of Nesting solutions here https://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/collections/nesting