Wilder Gardens

Elephant hawkmoth on a purple flower, with wildlife garden and cottage in background

Elephant hawkmoth (credit: Tom Marshall)

Wilder Gardens

With an estimated 24 million gardens in the UK, the way we care for them can make a huge difference to wildlife. Find out how you can make your garden more wildlife-friendly!

Let's invite wildlife back into our gardens. Many of our common garden visitors – including hedgehogs, house sparrows and starlings – are increasingly under threat. But together we can turn things around and create safe havens for our wild neighbours.

Large or small, the way you choose to care for your garden can make a big difference to wildlife. Gardens are like mini stepping stones across our city, towns and villages, providing natural spaces for wildlife to find food, water, shelter, and places to breed. Together, they create a living landscape where wildlife can thrive.

Join thousands of people across the county in supporting wildlife in your garden.

                                                            See more wildlife gardening ideas

More ways to help wildlife in your garden

Find more ways to help the wildlife in your garden in the guides below.

A booklet about molluscs, with an image of a snail

Wild About Gardens slugs and snails booklet

Download your guide to slugs and snails

In a popularity poll of garden wildlife, slugs and snails probably wouldn't rank very highly. But do they really deserve such a bad reputation? Slugs and snails are incredible creatures, bringing plenty of benefits to our gardens - so it’s time to give them a reputation makeover.

A booklet about lawns, with an image of a bee approaching a yellow dandelion

Download your wild about lawns booklet

Discover how to make a wildlife-friendly lawn.

A guide to Wildlife Gardening, with a photo of a blue tit landing on a flower

Download your wildlife gardening guide

Wildlife-friendly gardening is about making a haven for you, as well as for wildlife. You'll be rewarded with a thriving outdoor space, where you can enjoy the plants, animals, and birds that make their home there.

A booklet about ponds, with an image of a frog's face close up

Download your guide to creating a pond

Creating a pond is one of the best things you can do in your garden for wildlife. And, it doesn't have to be big! Even mini container ponds can create essential habitat for garden wildlife.

A booklet about butterflies, with an image of a cream butterfly hovering over a white flower

Download your guide to helping butterflies

Butterflies and moths are suffering, with many species declining in recent years. But the good news is that you can help through butterfly-friendly gardening.

A booklet about worms, with an image of a pair of hands holding out a pile of soil with a worm on top

Download your guide to helping worms

These wriggly friends are well known to gardeners all over. At first glance they might not seem particularly special, but they're essential for healthy soils and thriving wildlife.

A booklet about hedgehogs, with an image of a hedgehog in a garden on a dark night

Download your guide to helping hedgehogs

Small, round, brown, and famously covered in spines, the hedgehog is one of the most familiar of Britain's wild mammals.

A booklet about bats, with an image of three bats flying on a dark night with a full moon behind them

Download your guide to helping bats

Bats are the stars of the night sky, sometimes seen swooping through the darkness in pursuit of their prey. Find out how you can support these enigmatic mammals.

A booklet about bees, with an image of a bee hovering over a yellow flower

Download your guide to helping bees

It's no secret that many pollinators are under threat. Driven by insensitive land use, fewer plant species, and the use of insecticides, this is bad news for us and for them. But you can help...

A booklet about swifts, swallows and martins, with an image of a flying bird

Download your guide to swifts, swallows and martins

Discover how to identify swifts, swallows and martins, and find ways you can help them.

A booklet about peat-free gardening, with an image of some hands planting a small green plant in soil

Download your peat-free gardening guide

This guide will help you to transition to peat-free gardening, offering up tips and tricks for getting the most out of your compost.

A booklet about beetles, with an image of a red beetle on a leaf

Download your guide to bringing back our beetles

Beetles come in an amazing variety of colours, sizes, and shapes. Important predators and prey for other animals, they also pollinate our flowers and crops, and even recycle nutrients back into the soil. Discover how you can help beetles.

A robin sits on top of a spade handle, which is covered in snow

Robin perched on a snowy spade (credit: Mark Hamblin/2020VISION)

Are you worried about something in your garden?

Whether it is a bird out of a nest, a swarm of bees, or a problematic pond, check out our answers to a range of frequently asked questions about Norfolk's wildlife.

Visit our frequently asked questions page