If you want to make your garden more suitable for wildlife, there are four main things that you need to include. Water is the key to life, and providing something new or garden is a sure way of helping to attract wildlife. This could be a simple shallow tray that animals can use for drinking or bathing all the way up to a landscaped wildlife pond. One thing to consider if you are installing a deeper pond or water feature is a sloped way out. The last thing you want is to attract animals to your garden only for them to fall into your pond and drown. You can provide food for wildlife in many different ways. Natural food is the most cost effective and can be achieved by planting native, fruiting or flowering plants and trees. The flowering plants will provide nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects, and the fruit and berries from trees will provide food for birds and mammals throughout the autumn and winter. Another option is supplementary feeding. There are loads of different types of feeders available from hanging cage feeders to bird tables and sweat blocks. Different birds have different preferences to research the species you wish to attract before buying the feeders. You can also put down food for hedgehogs. This can be provided in bowls on the ground or you can use a special hedgehog feeding box. These have an entrance corridor that stops other animals from reaching in and taking the food out. The best food for hedgehogs is meat-based cat food in jelly. Millworms, milk and fish are all bad for hedgehogs and should be avoided. Gardens often lack suitable nesting sites for wildlife. To combat this, man-made nest boxes can be installed. Different species of birds prefer different style nest boxes. Robbins like open-funted boxes, tits like boxes with round holes and birds like sparrows prefer communal boxes with several holes. These boxes can be attached to walls, fences or the side of buildings. It is important not to face the box directly southwards as this may get too hot and kill the chicks or eggs. Different species like their boxes to be placed in different locations, so always research the species before buying or installing a nest box. Headjog nest boxes can also be installed. These are relatively cheap and come in many different styles. The box should be placed out of direct sunlight and all it might be tempting to give the hedgehogs a head start by putting straw hay or leaves in the box. This might actually deter them rather than encourage them to stay. If you are lucky, the hedgehogs may choose to hibernate in your box and sometimes they will use them for giving birth and rearing their hoglets. There are many insect hotels available on the market, but you can also make one fairly easily. A simple design is to drill holes of varying sizes into an old piece of wood and then either hang it or place it somewhere in your garden. This could be used by all manner of species from bees and wasps to beetles and butterflies. A compost heap is also a great addition to wildlife garden. They are used by lots of different species from grassnakes that lay their eggs within them to other creatures that use the invertebrates they are attracted to them as a natural food ladder. One thing that is often overlooked when making a wildlife friendly garden is access. Walls and fences create a boundary for many ground living species and the low you have provided water, food and a place to make home. Many species would just not be able to get in. The best solution to this is to tear down these boundaries and replace them with native hedges. This is obviously not a viable option to many people, but an alternative that will work just as well is cutting small holes at the bottom of them. These holes only need to be 5 inches in diameter, which is plenty big enough for most species of wildlife but will prevent any pets or children from escaping. If you provide these 4 things, there is no reason that even the smallest garden cannot become a complete haven for wildlife. I hope you have enjoyed this video. If you have, please like, share and subscribe. Thank you for watching and I will see you again soon.