First Spring

Signs of spring are showing the winter work has paid off and the beginnings of the wildlife garden are coming into fruition.

new leaves of the Beech hedge.

The bank under the hedge has been planted and  beginning to show its colours .....

Foxgloves, Alliums, Poppies, Peony, Sedum, Aquilegia

First signs of life in the no dig vegetable bed .........

notice the dandelions left to grow in the grass, food for early Bumble Bees.

Apple tree in flower.

There are Crocus bulbs planted in the grass beneath for early flowers and food source for newly emerging bees and pollinators. This contributes to the long flowering season.

The sculpted mound and the wildlife pond. Already Water Boatmen and Water Beetles have moved in! As the summer goes on more life will  make the pond its home.

Good use of pallets. Compost bins to take some grass clipping, old vegetable leaves and flower prunings. Anything that will rot down, even the contents of your hoover! It will also be a habitat; frogs and slow worms could hibernate in there, let alone the worms and invertebrate like centipedes and beetles that will live there and help to break down the contents.

Not to forget provisions for other types of wildlife.......

It is equally important to provide some to drink for birds, bats, bees, butterflies and moths as it is somewhere to bathe

A home for solitary bees. To save them the energy of digging a tunnel in the soil, they quite happily make use of this little 'hotel'

Just in case there isn't enough room

Not to forget the butterflies............

And finally, it can't all be for the wildlife. Something to enjoy whilst sitting out in the sunshine admiring the results of the winter preparation whilst listening to the birds singing and the buzz of the bees and hoverflies.