A much smaller wildlife garden

 I set up this blog years ago, when we enjoyed a pretty large garden. Since then we have downsized, as old people do. But the wonderful "The Wild Gardener" programmes on BBC2 recently, by Colin Stafford-Johnson, included the following sentence: "Anyone who's got a little bit of land can make the land better for nature". [BBC iPlayer - The Wild Gardener - Series 1: Episode 1] So I decided to make a new series of posts about what I do in my little bit of land. I shall enjoy making these posts. If you enjoy reading them, that's very pleasing. If you get some ideas from them of things to try in your own bit of land, so much the better.

The day I decided to start (November 29th) has snow on the ground and was very cold. Here are a few photos.

I think these are blackbird footprints. Certainly I have seen both a male and a female hopping around this week.

The Purple loosestrife is one of the plants that does really well in the little pond. I hope next summer to show it in flower. But it was shining gold in the the afternoon sun, a reminder that seed-heads are often an aesthetic pleasure as well as a winter home for who knows what invertebrates. (I use the phrase "who knows" to confess right away that I have no scientific knowledge. Some people do know.)

Providing habitats is one of the main principles of wildlife gardening. I have little skill in do-it-yourself, but I did manage to make this insect house earlier this year. I have no idea what, if anything, will use it, but all sorts of insects hibernate, so I hope some creatures find it useful.

I reckon that four things all of us who have any land at all can do are: provide habitats; set up a bit of water - ideally a pond, however small it has to be; never use pesticides; never use herbicides. Maybe other ideas will come across from this blog. We'll see what turns up.

My main reason for wildlife gardening is sheer pleasure. I love living in the city, but I love being in the country. A sight like this cheers me up.