Summer gardening advice from the RSPB

Greenfinches, seen here as a juvenile begging from its male parent, can attempt second or third broods into late summer. Photo: Steve Young (www.birdsonfilm.com).

Summer gardening advice from the RSPB

Posted on: 02 Jul 2012

With summer gardening often accidentally endangering breeding birds and other wildlife, the RSPB has provided a series of tips for nature-friendly horticulture.

The top tips include giving your cat a bell. Its natural hunting instincts mean it can be a threat to garden birds. If you have a pet cat, make sure it wears a collar with a bell attached so birds get an early warning when there’s a predator about.

The more plants you grow, the better it is for wildlife, which is a great excuse to get out there and fill your garden with greenery. Grow flowers among your vegetables, climbers up the walls and in pots on your patio. Where possible, avoid using chemicals to kill insects or weeds. Pesticides can knock vital levels out of the food chain, and there are usually more constructive ways of working with nature to sustain a healthy garden.

With all the rain we’ve had recently, it may seem odd to suggest storing it to water your plants, but only a few months ago there were in drought conditions and a hosepipe ban. Water butts are very environmentally friendly because they collect and store rain water, allowing you to recycle it and give your plants a good drink at the same time.

It is also good to delay hedge cutting and trimming until autumn. The main breeding period for garden birds is between 1 March and the end of August, so it’s best to avoid cutting trees or hedges during this time so as not to disturb any nests. Conifers can provide nesting sites for a variety of species at this time including Blackbird, Robins, Greenfinch, Goldcrest and even Sparrowhawk and crows, so real care needs to be taken during any cutting.

Over 170,000 people have registered for the RSPB’s Homes for Wildlife scheme, a free online service in which you feed in basic information about your garden, generating gardening advice specific to your type of garden. Visit www.rspb.org.uk/homesforwildlife.

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Summer gardening advice from the RSPB