Animal Aid has long been concerned about the growing tendency to scapegoat various animal species for the vices of human beings. Some species are being targeted because they are deemed to interfere with agricultural or ‘game’ bird production systems; others, because they are regarded as urban ‘pests’ or ‘aliens’.
Wild animals are already facing immense challenges from climate change, habitat destruction, pesticide use, loss of hedgerows, the urbanisation of gardens, roads traversing their environments and the ever-increasing urban sprawl. And those who do survive are often blamed for encroaching on our space. From the politically motivated badger cull to the ‘gene cleansing’ ruddy duck cull, wild animals pay the price for human demands.
Sometimes, the question arises of what harm growing plants does to animals. Land clearance, pesticides and harvesting machines all kill animals. To answer that, you could point out that most crops are fed to animals. Chickens and pigs convert grain into meat at rates of two or three to one one (i.e. three kg of grain produces one kg chicken meat). The ratio for lamb is between four and over six to one and that for beef starts at five to one and goes as high as twenty to one.
Buying organic helps. As does growing your own. Fewer invertebrates die in these types of food production. These systems also have more wild areas for animals to live in.
SLUGS AND SNAILS
Garden (small/black/pale side stripe), field (small/grey/flecked) and keel slugs (orange stripe) are common. There might be 200 per cubic metre buried in the soil. I’d advocate you metaphorically ‘hug a slug’, a bit like you might hug a tree. Gardeners drown them in beer, slice them with scissors, or give them a lingering salty death. The slug has a moist skin, so when you sprinkle salt on to it a strong brine quickly forms. The process of osmosis then begins, by which water is drawn from a weak solution (in this case the body fluid of the slug) into a stronger one. Result; the slug dies a lingering death by dehydration. Oats swell them up until they explode. Or gardeners chuck them over the fence. They come back unless you can really hurl. Moving slugs (and many other creatures) is like mopping up water with the tap running. Many slug pellets contain metaldehyde which can kill dogs and get into water courses where it is toxic to fish. Organic slug pellets kill slugs. Hopefully, you think killing stuff is bad if you have got this far through this book.
Nematodes eat slug eggs. But the chances are you will kill your nematodes before you kill your slugs.
To deter slugs, you can take away the dark, damp places where they hide. But they mostly live underground. You might like to install electric fences at various heights for slugs, rabbits and deer. Copper, coffee grounds, wool, grit and broken glass are barriers that might put off slugs. A Cumbrian company called Grazers makes solutions that deter a range of animals, including slugs. Slugs really like vegetables, but I don’t advocate growing no veg. I do think creating an ecosystem where there are predators such as birds that will control slugs is the best idea.
APHIDS
Greenfly and whitefly eat plants, especially shoots. Birds eat greenfly, so make your garden bird-friendly, but not by having bird feeders. Ladybirds, lacewings and parasitic wasps eat aphids, so creating a food chain is a good way to keep pests under control. As well as aphids, bluebottles, horseflies, mosquitoes, green capsid bugs, midges, capsids, gnats, crane flies and black rats are unlovable but have a role in the environment, otherwise they wouldn’t exist.
Washing plants in soapy water or alcohol solution kills the aphids. But you can’t dip plants in a bucket so it’s an inexact way of tackling greenfly. Companion planting of lavender might put them off, as might horticultural fleece or mesh. Aphids are repelled by catnip and attracted to mustard and nasturtium. Garlic and chives repel aphids when planted near lettuce, peas or rose bushes. Try spraying cold water on the leaves. Dusting plants with flour constipates them. Organic controls that kill greenfly include pyrethrum spray, or homemade garlic or tomato-leaf sprays.
Then there’s red spider mite, beetles, mealy bugs and scale insects, codling moths and mullein moths. Net crops to dodge flea beetle and carrot fly. Sow seeds sparsely to restrict egg-laying opportunities. Lots of beetles are seen even by conventional gardeners as ‘good’. Insecticides will kill these – as well as bees
For mealy bugs and scale insects, diatomaceous earth powder dehydrates and lacerates them to pieces. It also works on slugs. Gardeners sometimes use methylated spirits to kill scale insects. Alternatively, prune out areas the sap-suckers are eating. Ladybirds and lacewings will eat them, as will the predator Cryptolaemus montrouzieri. Soap and neem oil will also kill them.
Codling moth caterpillars drill into apples. Pheromone traps lure in males to their deaths by smelling like females. Nematodes are an option. Or nuke them with insecticides. Or just sacrifice some maggoty apples.
Red spider mite has a natural predator, phytoseiulus persimilis. Or keep your greenhouse clean and plants well-spaced.
Birds like eating mullein moth caterpillars, which can be picked off hosts such as buddleia.
There is no reason to kill ants or worms.
Evil weevils are now considered to be the most serious pest of ornamental plant production. Gardeners hate them as much as slugs, snails, squirrels, etc, etc. The black vine weevil and other closely related weevil adults feed on susceptible plant foliage leaving notched edges, while it’s the larvae feeding extensively on plant roots that do the most damage. Vine weevil grubs are responsible for killing plants such as potted heucheras, primroses and soft fruit bushes. It is estimated that vine weevil damage causes £30m in annual losses for growers and that total is expected to increase with the restriction of potentially bee-harming, neonicotinoid-based, pesticide control options. Overly moist compost in plant pots is their ideal home, where they can secretly eat the roots of the plants.
Nematodes eat leatherjackets, chafer grubs and vine weevils.
Controls containing the neonicotinoid thiacloprid, have been withdrawn from sale, as have other products that contain thiacloprid. As non-flying insects, weevils travel from plant to plant by walking. It stands to reason then, that a sticky barrier can stop them moving around. If you grow your own plants within a closed ecosystem, then vine weevils should not come into your plot.
MOLES
These small subterranean mammals’ short, powerful forelimbs with large paws are adapted for digging. The conventional view on moles in gardens is they disfigure lawns and meadows by making molehills. Advice from Dr Hessayon suggests that because the blind, velvet-furred burrowers bring up sticky soil that wrecks the sward, they need to be got rid of. They can cause subsidence. Their molehills are bad for mowers and for plant roots.
There are an estimated 31m adult moles in Britain – more than the number of badgers, rats, foxes and squirrels (grey and red). It’s just you don’t see them. They live underground. Their tunnels trap worms and insect larvae for moles to eat. Considering there is half a mole for every man, woman and child in Britain, it’s surprising they don’t cause more damage. Or that no-one I know has ever seen one.
Mole repellent methods are many and various but all involve elements of animal cruelty. Battery-powered mole deterrents are available that scare moles away from an area of 1000sqm. Mole catchers are an endangered species. One control is to blow moles up. Calcium carbide poison sorts them out. As does strychnine. Rather than causing a Agatha Christie-style whodunit death as many would imagine, strychnine actually, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the eyes or mouth, causes poisoning, which results in gruesome muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia.
Phostoxin or Talunex tablets containing aluminium phosphide, inserted into tunnels, where they turn into phosphine gas, kills them. Farmers used to skin them and hang their pelts on fences. Moles are virtually blind so they presumably didn’t get warned off. Some gardeners bury a piece of rotten meat in mole runs, others put berberis and rose prunings down there. Some bury rags soaked in Jeyes Fluid and creosote. Others use sulphur mole smokes. Some people shoot at them when they see molehills move. Weasel droppings are meant to deter moles. Toy windmills placed on molehills are meant to annoy moles. Euphorbia latifolia (caper spurge) plant scent deters moles, supposedly. Another plant that may encourage moles to move on is the castor bean plant, since commercial mole repellents are made from castor oil. Both plants are poisonous, though. Another option is to kill mole food – worms. This also stops their casts appearing on the lawn. Chemicals such as carbendazim and chlordane are now banned. But you can use acidifiers and other products to make the area near the surface of the grass less palatable for them to live in. Or apply mustard solution to bring worms to the surface so you can pick them off. Stop using organic fertilisers or composts, which only encourage worms. Obviously, I’d encourage doing the opposite to all these methods.
Moles have territories of 2,000-7,000sqm. If a mole is killed, then another mole will take on its territory within hours.
Moles are inedible.
To repel moles:
Simply remove the soil that forms the molehill, use it for your potted plants, and flatten the area with a roller. Or let your grass grow so you can’t see the molehill. Liquid mole repellents to spread in tunnels are available commercially. The smell drives them away. Ultrasound devices may work, as may prickly holly leaves placed in tunnels.
SQUIRRELS
Wildlife lovers have a particular hatred for squirrels; grey ones anyway. They are originally from North America and were released in the UK by nineteenth century landowners. They are now very common and widespread. They often visit peanut feeders in gardens. In the autumn, they spend time storing nuts to eat during the winter.
They have replaced our native red squirrels over most of the UK. They eat acorns, bulbs, tree shoots, buds, fungi, nuts and roots. Occasionally, they take birds’ eggs and chicks. Reds prefer smaller pine seeds so are now mostly seen in conifer forests. After years of persecution, they are now a poster conservation animal. Squirrels quickly adapt to any suitable food source available, so if you feed wild birds regularly you are likely to also attract squirrels. The answer is not to feed wild birds.
To conserve food, squirrels will sometimes stash/bury it. While this can cause damage to plants, bulbs and lawns, it should be seen as a survival tactic and not an assault on your plants. Squirrels will also eat fruit and nuts from garden trees when available. They are accused of damaging trees – this is much less of a problem than is made out. Squirrels can get into lofts and gnaw wires; block off holes in day time when they are out looking for food.
What you can do:
• Stop feeding wild birds or use ‘squirrel-proof’ bird feeders, balanced on greased poles three metres or more from trees.
• Add chilli powder to the bird feed.
• Potted plants can be protected from digging and burying through the use of squirrel repellents.
• A ‘Get Off’-style deterrent may deter squirrels from digging bulbs from pots.
• Or enclose them in metal net.
• Put prickly gorse or wire netting over your bulbs.
• Scarers, ribbons and balloons (preferably with eyes drawn on) can deter squirrels from trees.
• Put cones or plastic skirts around trees that squirrels may take fruit from.
• A water sprayer on a sensor works too.
RABBITS
Rabbits can cause crop loss and can look for food in gardens in the country or edge of town. Use mesh fencing of not more than 31mm and at least 19 gauge wire, at least 100cm high and with 15cm of mesh turned out at right angles at the bottom and pegged to the ground. This will stop rabbits burrowing underneath. Liquid mammal repellents can work as can dried gorse or holly sprinkled 50cm wide around vegetable beds. Rue (ruta graveolens) may deter rabbits, which avoid iris, cyclamen, foxglove, snowdrops, daffodils, scarlet pimpernel, box, rhododendron and laurel.
BIRDS
Gardeners like some birds but hate others. They like little song birds, preferably rare ones, and dislike common, larger birds that ‘bully’ tiny ones. Droppings are the usual complaint. Foreign invaders such as parakeets upset the existing balance, forcing out other birds and eating their food sources, as well as possibly damaging trees. What should gardeners do about this?
PIGEONS
Pigeons thrive in our urban environment where rooftops and high buildings are like the cliff edges where they originally nested. Pigeons breed all year round and their population is dictated by the amount of food on offer. Pigeons are amiable birds, and we should all try to be more tolerant of them as they struggle to survive and feed their young. Droppings from pigeons pose no greater risk to health than those of any other garden bird. Lethal control does not keep down numbers which quickly grow to previous levels if food remains available.
What you can do:
• Stop feeding pigeons, directly or indirectly, and encourage others to do the same. In London’s Trafalgar Square, pigeons were once a tourist attraction fed by visitors. Now they are deterred with a hawk – and by a ban on feeding.
• Ensure you dispose of your litter responsibly, taking care to secure all waste food in bins with lids.
• Don’t put bread and other bird feed out in your garden, as this will attract all birds, including pigeons.
• Block access to roof spaces and buildings. Netting and spikes can be humane deterrents but must be fitted by a professional humane deterrent company. Do not call standard ‘pest controllers’, as they will kill pigeons.
• Other pigeons will quickly re-populate the area if there continues to be an adequate food supply. Numbers will decline if the food supply is cut off.
• You can install bird control kites.
• Spikes on roosting ledges can also deter pigeons.
Large gulls, such as Herring and Black-backed, can be causes of complaint because they mob people for food, make a noise, foul and damage roofs. They are becoming more prevalent in urban areas because of changes in their regular food supply. The decline of fishing, as well as increasing landfill, means they can come into contact with us more often, attracted by the waste food we create. Gulls are protective of their young and may swoop to ward off any perceived danger. If there is a good food supply they will nest on nearby household rooftops, as well as other buildings. Feeding flying gulls chips is a bad idea as it encourages them to bother anyone near the chip shop.
What you can do:
• Gulls are attracted by easy food, so stop feeding birds, directly or indirectly, including those in your garden.
• Take extra care with waste food as most problems with gulls are the result of people dropping fast food waste.
• Compost food at home or use the waste food recycling schemes.
• Humane deterrents, such as blocking access to regular breeding sites, balloon-kites and gull wire to prevent landing are available.
MAGPIES, JACKDAWS AND CROWS
The corvidae family are sometimes accused of killing songbirds, but they have little impact on small bird populations, or on farmed animals where they are occasionally linked to lamb deaths. They do well in urban areas where there are lots of waste food. Nests can block chimneys and they can damage roofs. Jackdaws have white eye rings, rooks have bare faces and crows are bluey-black all over.
‘Non-problem’ birds
Attract tits with deciduous trees which have insects living on them. They will eat insects, berries and seeds. Blackbirds will eat worms and insects and peck at windfall fruit. Sparrows eat seeds and feed insects to their young. Thrushes eat snails, worms, insects and berries. Sparrowhawks eat other birds. Finches eat seeds. Wrens eat insects. Starlings and sparrows were once seen as problems, but numbers have dropped because of environmental factors so are now often encouraged.
There is no evidence to show that pigeons spread disease.
Stop feeding the birds and encourage others to do the same. Take care with food storage, using airtight containers where appropriate.
Dispose of all food waste responsibly.
Don’t drop litter or food.
Obstruct access to ponds with fencing and plants to deter geese.
Ground scarers, such as flapping tapes and flags can work, but should be moved occasionally as birds can get used to them.
Balloon-kites are deterrents. Scarecrows scare crows.
Deter cats with angled fence, taut wire or string fitted 10-15 cm above the fence-top, half-full plastic bottles and CDs suspended in borders (the reflected light deters cats), spiked tree collars to prevent them climbing, spiky plant clippings from thorny or spiky plants under bushes will prevent cats from using these areas to stalk birds.
Coleus canina plants, marketed under the names Pee-off and Scaredy-cat, have a smell that repels cats and some other animals from the garden.
Scent deterrents will either repel (e.g. Citronella, citrus peel) or mark a territory (e.g. Silent Roar).
Spraying cats with water to scare them is cruel.
Plant plenty of shrubs, trees, plants with seeds and fruit to attract birds.
GEESE
Geese, such as Canada, Egyptian and Greylag, are most often seen in parks and gardens, attracted to short grass and protective water such as lakes and large ponds.
What you can do
Stop feeding geese and other birds. The more food there is on offer, the more geese there will be.
Local authorities can implement other humane measures to deter geese, such as planting vegetation at the water’s edge, or erecting goose-proof fencing to block access to water.
Balloon-kites can deter geese.
Should you feed birds?
If you don’t like rats or squirrels, then probably not. If you can cope with these wild animals sharing the food you put out for wild birds, then yes. Birdscaping is the way to attract birds to gardens.
Moles, rats, mice, pigeons, magpies, deer and foxes – many gardeners devote a lot of time to keeping out wild animals. But there is an industry worth billions worldwide built around attracting small birds, the likes of robins, tits, finches and songbirds: in other words, photogenic birds that look cute on the bird table but won’t damage the garden.
Manufacturers have made the market a year-round one by convincing gardeners that birds need food when they are nesting, as well as in winter. But do you need to buy bird food? If you do, what is the best? And are there homemade or home-grown alternatives?
The bird food market used to be simple: bags of peanuts, mixed seeds and the occasional fat ball in colder months to keep birds happy. Now it is enhanced with vitamin supplements, and seed mixes are aimed at particular birds. One brand claims to repel squirrels and rodents.
You can attract more birds without spending on shop-bought food. Make a wildlife haven with (pesticide-free) food plants, incorporate log piles, compost heaps, mown and unmown grass, fruit trees, berry-rich hedges and ponds. Finches like teasel, honesty, dandelion, lavender, evening primrose and thistles. Greater plantain, fat hen, golden rod, groundsel and cornflower will attract other small birds. Beech, hawthorn, apple (including crab), mulberry, wild cherry, common firethorn and hornbeam are the best trees for small birds. A pond provides clean water.
RATS AND MICE AND VOLES
Mice will seek access from the garden or shed to your food and home, typically through air bricks, air vents or gaps around gas, water and drain pipes, and cable holes. They can squeeze through holes as small as 25mm. Wood mice are more common than house mice in gardens. One little-known fact is that it is easy to tell if a cheese is vegan if it is labelled ‘not tested on mice’.
What you can do
When you are sure the mice are not trapped inside, block all access holes with wire wool, ‘mouse mesh’ or a sealant that will harden quickly.
Ultrasonic repellents can evict mice and rats. These plug-in devices emit ultrasonic and/ or electromagnetic waves, which encourage the rodents to leave but cause them no harm. In the UK, 40 per cent of pest control spend is on rats and mice. This is worth £50 a year and makes up five million units.
Mice seeking shelter will also choose a location that offers a ready food supply. They also like eating soap. And cheese.
What you can do
Clean all areas where food may be present such as cupboards and floors. Store all food in cupboards that are inaccessible to mice, or in mice-proof airtight containers. Keep up this hygiene regime.
Cover over seed trays and use tree guards to protect them from gnawing.
You can bait humane traps with peanut butter or chocolate.
Release caught mice away from your home, ideally with a little food and water to encourage them to stay away. However, this may leave a nest of young without a parent, which you could take to a rescue centre, RSPCA or vet.
If you find a nest, expose it or relocate it elsewhere.
Rats like to live in burrows in gardens, often linked to pipes and sewers and close to a food supply, such as birdseed, or warm compost heaps. Black rats are very rare (1,300 in Britain) and prefer to live in roof spaces, often gaining access via climbing plants and shrubs, but will still be looking for a good food source. Cut back branches to stop them getting in. There are fewer rats in the UK than many people believe at an estimated 6.8 million, with 3 per cent living in gardens. People fear damage to cables and pipes from gnawing, as well as the deadly Weil’s Disease, caught from rat urine in water or wet soil.
What you can do
Make your garden inhospitable to rats. Animal Aid says most rat infestations are the result of bird feeding. So stop feeding wild birds and do not leave waste food around in and outside the home.
Take away habitat by keeping grass short, thinning out shrubs, removing cover such as piles of wood and debris around your garden and shed, exposing their tunnels and placing obstacles in their ‘runs’. This upsets them and they may relocate.
Scatter animal repellents where there are signs of rats and around sheds.
Metal cone guards around drainpipes with the wide end facing down (250mm plus) will prevent rodents climbing between the pipe and the wall. A metal mesh balloon guard at the top of the pipe will stop rats climbing up inside.
Rodents leave greasy smears where they enter and 1mm (mice) and 3mm (rats) gnawed grooves. Rat droppings are 12mm and mice 3-7mm. Rats are harder to trap humanely than mice as they avoid new things. If you catch one, take it to woodland. Go rat watching – it’s the new bird watching.
FOXES
Many gardeners hate foxes. They are scared of them eating their children and pets. However, foxes are scared of people and try to avoid them. Foxes are well adapted to living in urban environments, but simple techniques designed to make your garden inhospitable to foxes can deter them. Fox numbers are self-regulating and culling does little to populations. Other foxes take their place. Hunting has little to do with controlling a pest and more to with sport. Fox problems include digging, fouling, scattering rubbish, or noise. Foxes also scream at night during the breeding season, which runs from late December to February and in October when they compete for territory.
What you can do
Ignore them.
Replace fish and bone fertilisers with plant-based ones.
Electric fences can also be helpful.
Reduce available food – make sure bin lids are secure or, if bin bags are used, only put them out just before collection.
Do not feed birds.
Don’t keep chickens.
Use scents such as Scoot (aluminium ammonium sulphate), or Get Off My Garden (methyl nonyl ketone). Citronella oil may work by confusing their sense of smell. Place deterrents where you have removed faeces or on rags close to where you find an earth.
Block access points to under the shed and also in fences where you see scratches (this may deter hedgehogs which need holes under fences to move from garden to garden). And place obstacles in the way of well-used trails. A vixen and cubs could also be scared off from their earths under the shed by noise from a radio.
Ultrasound deterrents are widely available.
BADGERS
Just be very happy that you have seen one. They will eat worms, and also small mammals, birds, amphibians, lizards, eggs, seeds, bulbs and wasp nests. Badgers are nocturnal and live in underground setts, usually in woodland. The UK government has introduced a cull of badgers in an attempt to stop them spreading BSE to cattle – badgers are under pressure so need all the support from ordinary gardeners that they can get. If they become a problem in the garden, try electric fencing or Scoot-style repellents on the lawn to mask the scent of worms and insects that badgers may seek – but badgers are very difficult to deter.
HEDGEHOGS
Gardeners love them – at the moment, because they are rare. They like hedges and leaf piles. Make holes in the bottom of fences to allow them into your garden. They can also live in compost piles, and under sheds. They hibernate in winter so check under log piles if you are going to have a fire.
DEER
Deer-proof fences work if you are lucky enough to live near deer. Also use plastic netting and metal guards on small trees 1.2m or higher to prevent browsing. Flapping plastic ribbons, Scoot-style repellents, electric fences and water squirting devices will also repel deer and other mammals.
BATS
The flying mammals eat flies, beetles and moths. They roost in trees and built structures. Try bought or homemade bat boxes. Plant night-scented plants to attract night flying insects. Leave wild areas. Have a pond. They don’t like cats or too much artificial light. Pipistrelles are most common in gardens.
Cats have a terrible reputation for killing birds, but some research say they have little impact on overall populations. However, US cats kill 1.3bn-4bn birds and 6.3bn-22.3bn mammals a year. Colourful cat bell collars warn birds. Outward leaning angled fences, spiked tree collars, scent deterrents, scented Coleus canina plants and reflectors such as CDs may put off cats.
WEASELS/STOATS
Stoats are easily recognised. They are totally different from weasels, with black tips on their tails. They are bigger – but you’d only know that if you saw them side by side, which won’t happen. They eat voles, rabbits, birds and eggs and could be a welcome visitor to your garden. Pine martens and polecats are unlikely visitors.
FISH
Don’t keep pet fish in ponds. Chances are you will kill them. Over-feeding them will contaminate your pond and could lead to green soup algae issues. They can’t escape a badly-built pond. Sticking a shoal of koi carp in your garden pond is not creating a natural environment. Ornamental fish freed into the wild can spread parasites to coarse fish.
Fish have distinct personalities, develop relationships, talk to each other, show affection through gentle rubs, and grieve when their companions die. They can remember past social interactions with other fish and recognize individual humans. They also have complex nervous systems and exhibit pronounced reactions to contact with painful stimuli, including strong muscular contractions, rapid breathing, and avoidance.
To catch and release semi-farmed fish is cruel as hooking them and throwing them back causes them pain and stress.
Fish should be left as wild animals.
AMPHIBIANS/REPTILES
Frogs and toads like ponds (obviously) and log piles and eat insects, snails, slugs and moths. Tadpoles eat algae. Newts need stones or logs to hide under, as well as ponds to live in. Sloping sides on the pond help young amphibians get out. Slow worms eat slugs, worms and snails and will hang around your compost bin or log pile. Grass snakes might lay eggs in your compost heap. They eat…frogs. Lizards will bask and hibernate in log piles and eat insects and plants and are found in long grass.
A pond with sloping edges and water plants.
How to build a pond
A pond is a boon for attracting all manner of wild/freelife on your plot. Avoid overhanging trees however as they will drop leaves into the pond. Also make sure that children won’t be able to play near it unattended.
Make your pond site as big as you can, and mark out, avoiding underground cables. Dig 0.75 metres deep in the centre to stop it freezing in winter. A good design is a saucer shape with gently sloping edges so animals can get in and out.
Compact the soil and remove sharp stones before placing the liner over the hole. The best liner is butyl rubber. Buy a piece sized bigger than you think you will need. Secure the liner sides with bricks when it is spread out. Place a thin layer of soil over the liner and fill with rain water, while pulling the edges of the liner so that it fits over the contours of the pond. Leave a 30cm overlap around the sides. Trim the liner, edge with turf and plant (in the spring/summer) when the soil settles a week later. Wait for amphibians, pond insects and birds to arrive.
You can also use a bought pre-formed hard pond liner, for which you will need to dig a hole. Using aquatic plants enriches the pool with oxygen, supports beneficial bacteria that eat the floaters and debris, and give frogs, dragonflies and other creatures a habitat.
Recommended water plants: water milfoil, water starwort, miniature water lily, water soldiers (floating plant). You may need to rake plants out if they take over.
BEES
Bees appreciate flowering plants. But not all of them. Neonicotinoid pesticides used to treat young plants in the nursery may be harmful to bee health, so even plants marketed as perfect for pollinators might be bad for bees. Grow your own from seed or buy from organic nurseries or the increasing number of mainstream suppliers which now sell guaranteed neonics-free plants. You may see buff-tailed, carder, red-tailed, cuckoo, leafcutter, red mason, nomada and of course honeybees (as well as wasps).
Many popular varieties of flowers have been hybridised for features that benefit gardeners, such as disease resistance, enhanced colour, flower size and bigger or longer blooms. The result of this is a reduction of nectar and pollen produced by these hybrids. So, where possible, it is best to offer native plants for bees.
Bees like the blossom of fruit trees such as apples, cherries and plums. Later in the season, brassicas such as kale and plants such as rocket that go to flower provide food. Top flowering plants for bees include: aubretia, alysum, aster, balsam, broom, buddleia, busy lizzie, candytuft, clover, coneflower, cornflower, crocus, dandelion, hebe, honeysuckle, hyacinth, hydrangea, lavender, lavatera, heather, lobelia, lupins, marjoram, michaelmas daisy, mint, oregano, phlox, poppy, primrose, scabious, sedum, snowdrop, thyme, viburnum and wallflower.
BUTTERFLIES
To attract butterflies to your garden, plant nectar-rich plants such as buddleia, lavender and honeysuckle. Let nettles and weeds grow in wild areas. In late summer, leave fallen pears, apples and plums for butterflies such as Red Admiral and Painted Lady.
Painted Lady.
For spring nectar plant: Aubretia, bluebell, clover, cuckooflower, daisy, dandelion, forget-me-not, honesty, pansy, primrose, sweet rocket and wallflower.
For late summer/autumn nectar: Buddleia, chives, French marigold, ice plant, ivy, knapweed, marjoram, Michaelmas daisy, mint, red valerian, scabious and thyme are all attractive to butterflies.
MOTHS
Moths form a large part of the diet of bats and other garden birds such as robins, great tits, wrens and blackbirds who rely heavily on caterpillars. Urban development, climate change and intensive farming have shrunk moth numbers.
The Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner kills the leaves and the Oak Processionary moth can defoliate oak trees. This species and also the Brown Tail have long hairs which are an irritant to humans.
BEETLES/LADYBIRDS
Ladybirds are regarded as beneficial to the garden as they eat lots of insects that damage plants, such as aphids, scale insects and thrips. Some ladybirds such as the sixteen-spot, twenty-two spot and orange varieties feed on mildew which also damages garden plants. There are just a couple of species – the twenty-four spot and the bryony varieties – that feed on plant material. As ever, feel fortunate if you see them, or any other creatures in the garden. 
