Plant late-season flowers

Extend the season of pollen and nectar for pollinators – which may still be on the wing before hibernation, migration or the end of their lifecycle – by planting some late-season blooms.

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Fill gaps in the border with herbaceous plants such as aster, echinacea, helenium, ice plant, rudbeckia and Verbena bonariensis, and shrubs such as buddleia and hebe. Don’t forget that flowering ivy is one of the best for late-season blooms that birds and insects love, so let it grow up a fence or wall. You'll have to wait a couple of years for its blooms, but they'll be worth the wait.

Build a cob brick bee hotel

Make a home for solitary hairyfooted flower bees (Anthophora plumipes). They nest in soft cob walls, gaps in pointing and bee hotels made using mud.

In a bucket, mix clay-rich soil and barley straw, adding a little water at a time until the ingredients are well combined and the mix is damp but not wet. Fill a box or large plant pot with the mix, and use a stick to make holes 10-12mm in diameter while it is still damp.