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There are 15 million gardens in the UK and they are estimated to cover about 270,000 hectares – more than the area of all the National Nature Reserves in the UK.

Every backyard, large or small, is a potential nature reserve, even within wider urban areas in which wildlife is increasingly under threat. Gardens and backyards may also act as “wildlife corridors” and “steppingstones”, vital links to allow wildlife (such as birds and butterflies) to migrate between larger areas of suitable habitat.

Hints and advice on gardening for wildlife can be found at the following links:

Natural England’s Nature in the Garden – this site includes a series of downloadable and printable leaflets on all aspects of wildlife gardening.

Wild About Gardens is a joint project between The WildlifeTrusts and the Royal Horticultural Society, bringing together the worlds of gardening and nature conservation for the benefit of people and wildlife.

The Offshoots Project in Burnley’s Towneley Hall is a working permaculture site. As well as providing a site for local volunteers to work on, it contains various designs and sizes of eco buildings, food growing sections, has a demonstration wildlife friendly backyard as well as many other features for visitors to get ideas from.