Welsh Wildlife Garden
June 2021
Red campion (Silene dioica)
With the restrictions on travelling over the last 18 months, like many people I've had to re-focus a little closer to home. About six months before Covid hit the UK I moved into a little terraced house in Swansea with a small back garden laid entirely with patio.
Initially I thought changing it would be too much work, but finding myself confined to home during the first lockdown I decided to have a go at converting it into a wildlife garden.
Before conversion...
... and afterwards.
With my son Phil providing carpentry skills as well as considerable muscle and energy we took up the patio and one fence, dug a ditch and a pond, laid paths and built a dry-stone wall followed by a log cabin to view it all from. Next it was a matter of mixing chippings and sand into the soil to increase drainage and reduce nutrient levels... and then start planting.
Suprisingly some nice plants such as celendine, bird's foot trefoil and common fleabane appeared on their own, but the majority had to be brought in. Trees for the hedge came from Coeden Fach Community Tree Nursery, plant plugs from Celtic Wildflowers and The Wildflower Nursery and it wasn't long before the first wildlife started to arrive.
Zebra Spider (Salticus scenicus) eating an aphid
Pale Tussock caterpillar (Calliteara pudibunda)
The key to any nature garden is a wildlife-frindly pond. This means sloping sides so animals can get in and out, a deep area that stays cool and dark but also shallow sections for marsh plants and of course, most importantly of all... no fish! It's not a good idea to put tap water in a wildlife pond but once it starts to fill up with rain water you'll be amazed how quickly the first animals arrive.
Within days there were beetles darting about, dragonflies laying eggs and birds drinking and bathing. A year later I've counted over twenty species of bird using the pond and a carefully hidden camera trap shows some much larger creatures making regular night-time visits.
Larva of a Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa)
Adult male Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa)
European badger (Meles meles) drinking at the pond
The Covid 19 pandemic has been a horrific disaster bring devastation to many millions of people across the world, but maybe it has also given us some time to stop and reflect on the way we treat our planet and consider what really matters for the prospects of future generations.
A pair of Bluetits bathing (Cyanistes caeruleusb)