My Wildlife Haven

Pollinators are at risk worldwide, but help can begin at home if every gardener does a little extra to give them what they need. Carol Klein shares her expert advice

- Carol Klein

It is easy to feel proprietorial about our gardens. They are ours, after all, and the British are famed for their love of boundaries, for staking their claim and for defending it against all comers. Yet, whether we like it or not, we share our gardens with a host of other creatures, some of them permanent residents, others just visiting. In recent years, most of us gardeners are becoming increasingly aware of the role we play in making our plots as welcoming to wildlife as possible − and even the smallest garden plays an important role.

There are over 23 million gardens in the UK so, together, the difference they can make in terms of offering hospitality to wildlife is enormous. I was born just after the end of World War Two and, since then, wildlife in both numbers and diversity has been increasingly challenged. The use of agricultural pesticides, herbicides and fungicides affects and very often destroys ecosystems and the creatures within them. Wetlands have been drained, destroying one of our most important and unique habitat s. Thousands of miles of hedgerow were torn out to create ever bigger fields for ever-larger machines to produce cheaper food for bigger profits, until it was realised that the erosion it caused was counter-productive. Some of those hedgerows have been replaced, but the fine balances that existed may take many years to re-establish.

Our soil has been impoverished and woodlands have been razed to the ground to build roads. Every day we hear of some wildlife tragedy − butterfly numbers being at an all-time low, the demise of the hedgehog or the plight of our bees.

Every little helps