Create A Wildlife Oasis

Your garden can be a paradise for wildlife. Jenny Bennion, from The Lancashire Wildlife Trust, explores some of the species who share our gardens

Whether you have several acres, a yard or just a window box, you’ll be amazed at just how many critters you are sharing your outside space with – and how many more you could be.

With an estimated 24 million gardens in the UK, our outdoor spaces are loved by humans and our precious wildlife, too. Our gardens can create wonderful habitats for insects, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, and also vital green highways connecting nature reserves with the countryside, allowing wildlife to travel and migrate.

Where you live and what kind of shape your garden is in will affect the types of wildlife you are most likely to spot, but even the drabbest space can be home to a fascinating microcosm of the natural world. Birds are probably some of the easiest members of our wild neighbours to spot. Some of our most common garden birds include the house sparrow, starling, blue tit, blackbird, woodpigeon, goldfinch, great tit, chaffinch, robin and the longtailed tit.

However, there are concerns for the welfare of some of these familiar visitors. For example, it is estimated that numbers of house sparrows have fallen by 60 per cent since the 1970s. It is thought that this decline is due to the loss of nesting sites and a decrease in food availability.