Team Wilder story: Turning a blank canvas into a haven for wildlife

Before: A rectangle of sterile lawn with a narrow flower border and a lone pear tree. After: a haven for wildlife

Imagine a wilder world on your doorstep, with more nature everywhere in urban and rural areas. Read about how Ed Munday turned the garden of his new house from blank canvas into a haven for wildlife as part of Team Wilder.

When we moved into our house – a semi-detached 1930’s house backing onto fields in Cholsey, Oxon, back in April 2014 the garden was a blank canvas – little more than a rectangle of sterile lawn with a narrow flower border and a lone pear tree.

The garden was almost completely devoid of any wildlife interest until we got to work to transform it into a haven for wildlife.

Back garden with fields beyond — Ed's garden before the transformation.

Over the following years we put in a raised bed for vegetables, extended the borders to allow more room for a range of pollinator friendly plants,

A mix of plants for pollinators in a back garden — Ed planted a mix of plants for pollinators

planted two field maple trees,

Field maples in wildlife-friendly garden — Field maples are relatively small trees with leaves that turn a rich, golden-yellow in autumn.

and dug a pond,

Wildlife pond surrounded by plants — A pond is one of the best things you can add to a garden for wildlife

We also stopped using any pesticides and molluscides. Our latest addition are two large rotting logs that we salvaged from a neighbour’s front garden clearance.

Our efforts have been rewarded with an abundance of wildlife – nearly 40 bird species have been seen in the garden, the pond is alive with frogs and dragon- and damselflies, and the garden abuzz with bees, butterflies, hoverflies and moths.

Here is a selection of the species that we've seen in our garden, along with a collage of the flowers in there.

Scarlet tiger moth

Peacock butterfly on buddleia. Photo by Ed Munday

Hoverfly. Photo by Ed Munday

Frog in pond. Photo by Ed Munday

Neither did we neglect the front garden.

In the last 20 years a third have been lost to impermeable hard standing and front gardens continue to be converted to driveways with consequent impact on wildlife and rainwater run-off (a trend likely to continue as we switch to electric vehicles).

We inherited this dead space:

Front garden with gravel and paving stones, and car parked — Ed's original front garden with no interest for wildlife

and although we still park our car in the front garden we have created space for a native hedge (hawthorn, spindle, guelder rose and dogwood), lilac trees, honeysuckle and bird feeders – which are frequented by the street sparrows who brighten up our mornings with their busy chatter.