Wildlife on our doorstep
In Secret Garden, Sir David Attenborough celebrates “these essential sanctuaries”, says producer Bill Markham
BBC / Plimsoll Productions
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Why are gardens so important? The bottom line is numbers: there are around 25 million gardens in the UK, and they spread like tentacles across the nation, providing essential sanctuaries, corridors and breeding sites. Between 1972 and 2001, the entomologist Dr Jennifer Owens counted more than 2,600 different species in her suburban garden in Leicester. The average garden has around 30 species of birds, from blue tits to owls, four species of mammal – perhaps a squirrel, badger or pine marten – and a lot of bugs and plants.
Sir David Attenborough has always loved his own garden in Richmond, with its beautiful wildflower meadow, but he wanted to learn more about the wildlife that populates our gardens, as well as its life cycle.
He was closely involved in the scripting of our new five-part natural history series Secret Garden. We would send him our version of the script, and he’d spend two weeks on each episode, rewriting it into his own words and asking for clarification on certain points. It was pretty special to have a Word document with track changes by David Attenborough on it. I might print it out and frame it!
He also sent a note after watching the first episode, which was filmed in a garden on the banks of a river in Oxfordshire, saying how much he’d learned.
We had a day’s filming with him –he otherwise recorded his voiceover at home, where he has a professional set-up – and he was probably just as enthusiastic as he was on day one of filming in the unexplored forests of Papua New Guinea all those years ago.
When Sir David presents a programme, the nation turns on the telly and takes what he has to say seriously. Over the last seven decades, experiencing incredible wildlife close-up in exotic locations, he has opened our eyes and minds to extraordinary behaviours.
With Sir David narrating these stories of wildlife on our doorstep, hopefully the audience will lean in and listen to what he has to say: you only have to do a small thing. If your neighbours do something, too, we can all make a massive difference.
Seven ways to make your garden more wildlife-friendly
Hannah Bailey
1. Just add water!
A pond will attract wildife to your garden. But don’t worry if you don’t have one, because a bucket or even a saucer can help – a huge amount of biodiversity will live in it or drink from it. Insects will lay eggs in the water, which will grow up to feed birds like swallows and swifts. We’ve lost 60 per cent of our insect population in 20 years, so every little helps. If you build a pond and it fills with frogspawn, it’s rewarding and you’re doing your bit. Plus, you won’t need pesticide, as the frogs will eat snails and slugs.
2. Build a hedgehog highway
Creating a hole in your fence connects habitats for hedgehogs. In the countryside, the number of hedgehogs has fallen from 30 million to less than a million in the last 50 years. Our city populations are just about stable – we use fewer pesticides in the city.
3. Grow a mini meadow
We’ve lost 97 per cent of our meadows in the last century. If you can create even a small patch of grass, don’t weed it or add pesticides. You’d be amazed at what lives in it or uses it as a food source.
4. Compost heaps/composters
A heap of leaves that rot down or a large food waste bin will provide nutrient-rich soil, or what I call “black gold”. As well as bugs and slow worms, you may get frogs and newts hiding in the compost and hedgehogs hibernating.
5. Plant a wildlife hedge or tree
If you’ve got a wall or a fence, add a trellis and trail climbers up it. Honeysuckle attracts moths and robins can nest in it. A native species tree will absorb carbon and offer shade – the Woodland Trust sells affordable trees.
6. Make a logpile
This hugely valuable garden feature will provide a breeding habitat for beetles and hidey-holes for amphibians. Drill a few holes in the wood of varying size (3mm to 10mm) and you have a bee hotel for a variety of solitary bees.
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7. Put a bell on your cat
If you own one of the 9.5 million pet cats in Britain, attach a bell to its collar and try to keep it inside in the spring when birds hatch their young. Cats kill 160 million to 270 million animals annually, a quarter of which are birds.
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