Charlotte Merriman
Start small, and leave things a little untidy
A wildlife corner is not an overgrown patch you feel guilty about. It is a deliberate piece of habitat, and it can begin in a single square metre. The best place is usually the corner you walk past most often, so you can actually watch what arrives. Pick a spot with at least a few hours of sun and, if possible, one edge against a hedge, fence or wall. That boundary gives insects and small mammals a corridor to travel along, and they will venture out from it as they gain confidence.
The guiding principle is structure, not chaos. A heap of soggy grass clippings will go slimy and smell; a layered pile of stems, leaves and twigs will teem with life. Aim for variety — low cover, taller stems, a patch of bare ground for basking, and some dead wood quietly rotting down. On a balcony or patio, the same ideas work perfectly well in a cluster of pots in a sheltered corner.
A log pile: the easiest five-star hotel in the garden
Dead wood is the most useful single thing you can add. Hedgehogs, beetles, centipedes, solitary bees, frogs and slow worms all use it, and mosses, lichens and fungi will move in within a season or two. You do not need a woodland; a pile the size of a small wheelbarrow is genuinely valuable.
- Mix the sizes: thick logs around 15–30cm across, plus thinner branches and a few twigs.
- Rest the biggest logs at the bottom and stack smaller material on top so the pile stays stable.
- Leave a hollow space inside by laying two logs as rails and bridging them with others — this dry void is what hedgehogs and toads are looking for.
- Sit it on soil, not paving, in light shade, so damp can rise and soil life can move in.
- Add to it once a year in late spring or autumn, and resist tidying it otherwise.
If you have a fence, cut a 13cm square gap at the base, or lift a gravel board slightly. This is a hedgehog highway, and neighbouring gardens linked this way give a single animal a home range worth having.
Water: shallow, safe and always available
For most garden wildlife, water matters even more than food. Birds drink and bathe, bees and butterflies sip at the edges, and hedgehogs will travel a surprising distance for a reliable drink during a dry spell.
Keep it shallow. A sunken washing-up bowl, a plant saucer or an old ceramic dish is ideal, set at ground level so small creatures can reach it without climbing. Add a few flat pebbles as landing pads for insects, and always leave an escape route — a gently sloping side, or a ramp of stones and twigs. Anything with steep vertical sides will drown small mammals. Refresh the water weekly, daily in hot weather, and place it in dappled shade so it stays cooler for longer.
If you have room for a tiny pond, so much the better. Even a buried bucket with one gently sloping edge will bring in damselflies, water beetles and frogs within a year.
Native flowers for nectar, seeds and shelter
Native and near-native plants support far more species than highly bred bedding. The aim is simple: something in flower from March to November, with seed heads left standing afterwards. Grow them in a loose block rather than dotted about, so insects can find them easily.
- Spring: cowslip, primrose, lungwort, and the humble dandelion, which is one of the first real sources of nectar.
- Early summer: foxglove, ox-eye daisy, red campion and hardy geranium.
- High summer: wild marjoram, field scabious, knapweed, betony and lavender.
- Late season: purple loosestrife, hemp agrimony, and ivy — its autumn flowers are a lifeline for bees, and its berries feed birds in winter.
Leave seed heads on teasel, teasel-like thistles and knapweed through the winter for goldfinches, and allow a little self-seeding. Avoid double-flowered varieties, which often offer no nectar at all.
Gentle gardening for every ability
Looking after a wildlife corner need not be strenuous, and it is far less work than a manicured border. Plant perennials rather than annuals and you avoid re-planting every year. Spread a thick mulch of leaf mould or bark in spring to suppress weeds, and let the corner do its own thing from June onwards.
Raise the work to you rather than bending to it. A planter at waist height, or a couple of large pots on a paved path, will support the same plants as a border. Long-handled tools, a kneeler with handles and a sturdy bench within arm's reach of the water dish all make a difference. If carrying a full watering can is difficult, keep a small one near the tap, or ask a neighbour to help with the log pile once a year. A paved or firm path to the corner means a walking frame or wheelchair can reach it in all weathers.
Above all, spend time there. Sit with a cup of tea and watch what turns up — a bee on the marjoram, a blackbird flicking through the leaf litter, the first frog in the water. That quiet half hour is the whole point, and it is the part that costs nothing at all.
