Suggestions for my wildlife garden

[Falesh]

I have finished the bulk of the work turning my garden into a place that is as welcoming as possible for wildlife. I have named the plants in the "Photo Details" of the pictures though I forgot to mention that I have planted more Everlasting Sweet Peas under the hedge. What I would like are any suggestions of things I may have missed that would make it even better (as long as it doesn't cost a fortune! ). Any ideas?

[Za]

Nice work, any luck with your bird and bee boxes?

Za

[Falesh]

Originally Posted by Za

Nice work, any luck with your bird and bee boxes?

Za

Not yet, though they were only put up this spring so I haven't been hoping for too much. One thing I am wondering is if I need to put any cover around them or if they are ok out in the open?

[tom00_uk]

the half open boxes, i tend to locate them with branches in front, normally holly or hawthorn in our garden to limit the chance of predators taking the young. put a box up in feb and its had two clutches laid in it, the first failed so after noticing the flies i emptied it and it then had a successful brood

the other closed fronted boxes i put them in the open in locations that limit cat access and they seem to be used at least every few years depends on whole starts nesting first what other birds take up boxes in the garden that season

[Falesh]

I forgot to mention that I put up a couple of open boxes in the hedge, one right at the end of the of the wild area with the log pile. Luckily we don't have any cats visiting us, probably because of our two dogs. The dogs don't bat an eye at birds who have learned they can just ignore them but the jack russell mongrel goes ballistic if it seems a grey squirrel so I think any local cats have made the wise decision to hunt somewhere else.

We have already had one successful clutch of two black birds from the nest in the firethorn and they are sitting on another one now. The cool thing is that I can see into the nest from inside the house with binoculars.

[N0z]

Your garden is really nice and the only thing i could think of is bigger logs for your log piles and a few more logs

[galanthophile]

I think a good thing to do would be to leave some of your lawn or other place wild for native flowers and grasses as these are very beneficial for allsorts of insects. Put in some insect homes and they will come. Great project!