A pond without fish, flowers from early spring to late autumn, some long grass, a hedge and a log pile do more for garden wildlife than any other measures.
The RSPB changed its advice on feeding birds in 2026 because of disease: seed and peanut feeders are left empty from May to October, and bird tables are no longer recommended.
Private gardens cover a larger area of Britain than its national nature reserves, and for hedgehogs, frogs, garden birds and many insects they are an important habitat. A garden does not have to be wild or untidy to be useful: a few features make most of the difference.
A pond is the single most valuable addition. Even one made from a buried washing-up bowl is used by birds, insects and amphibians. The essentials are at least one gently sloping side or a ramp so that animals can climb out, some shallow water, native plants, and no fish, which eat tadpoles and insect larvae. Rainwater is better than tap water for filling and topping up. Frogs, newts, dragonflies and water beetles usually arrive without help within a year or two.
Any pond is a drowning risk to small children, and households with toddlers often wait, or fit a rigid metal grille over the surface.
Bees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths need nectar and pollen from early spring to late autumn. A sequence might run from crocus, lungwort and willow in early spring, through foxgloves, alliums, lavender, thyme and catmint in summer, to sedum, Michaelmas daisies and ivy in autumn. Ivy flowers are one of the last major nectar sources of the year.
Single flowers are more useful than double forms, in which the extra petals often replace or block the parts that produce pollen and nectar. Plants do not have to be native to feed pollinators, but native trees, shrubs and wild flowers support far more caterpillars and other insect larvae.
Mowing less often allows clover, daisies, self-heal and bird's-foot trefoil to flower in a lawn. Leaving a patch uncut from spring until late summer goes further, giving cover to grasshoppers, beetles and the caterpillars of meadow butterflies. The conservation charity Plantlife runs an annual campaign encouraging households not to mow during May.
A mixed hedge of hawthorn, hazel, holly, dog rose and similar plants gives nesting sites, berries and cover that a fence cannot. Even a single small tree, such as rowan, crab apple or hawthorn, adds blossom, fruit and perches.
It is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to intentionally damage or destroy the nest of a wild bird while it is in use or being built. The main nesting season runs from March to August, and hedges are best cut outside it.
A pile of logs in a shady corner shelters beetles, woodlice, frogs, toads and newts. Leaving seed heads and hollow stems standing over winter, and some fallen leaves under hedges, gives insects somewhere to overwinter. Compost heaps are used by slow-worms, grass snakes and hedgehogs, and are best turned with care.
Hedgehog numbers have fallen steeply in Britain since the middle of the twentieth century. They roam a kilometre or more in a night and need to pass between gardens: a gap about 13 cm square at the base of a fence or wall is enough. Other measures are to check long grass before strimming, check bonfire heaps before lighting them, keep netting clear of the ground and provide a way out of ponds.
Hedgehogs can be given meaty cat or dog food and water. Milk and bread make them ill.
Advice on bird feeding changed in 2026. Feeders bring many birds into close contact, which spreads trichomonosis, a parasitic disease of the throat; greenfinch numbers recorded in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch have fallen by about two thirds since 1979. The RSPB guidance issued that year recommends:
The guidance is published on the RSPB website. Planting for seeds, berries and insects, for example sunflowers, teasels and ivy, feeds birds without the disease risk.
Nest boxes are put up in autumn or winter, facing between north and east, out of reach of cats, and are cleaned out in autumn after the breeding season.
Insecticides kill pollinators and predators along with pests, and slug pellets and weedkillers remove food from the base of the chain. A garden managed without them, as described under organic gardening, supports more wildlife. Peat-free compost protects the peat bogs that are themselves a rare habitat.