Should gardeners welcome all wildlife to their gardens?

"Surely a tortoise is not a problem?" I asked. "Those guys love scadoxus, (a beautiful red flowered bulb) they’ll eat it to the ground overnight!" Now, we are unlikely to suffer such issues in the UK, unless of course gangland tortoises stage a mass break out of London Zoo. But we do have a huge range of native and non-native creatures which inhabit our gardens. The idea of welcoming them all feels lovely. I mean, most of them were here before us, right? But perhaps a wild boar or Chinese water deer rampaging through your peonies puts pay to that notion. So, who are the good guys and the baddies when it comes to animals on our plots?

Clearly there are some creatures most of us just don’t want: rats, pigeons and foxes usually top this bill due to the disease and destruction they spread. Aside from our resident vermin there are other creatures which are not quite so clear cut. The green parakeets that have colonised London and swathes of the Southeast are a case in point. They look amazing in the garden, instantly adding a touch of the tropics but at the same time damage fruit trees and scare off the native birds. Badgers probably fit the same category. They’re beautiful creatures but those powerful claws can wreak havoc in a garden in a single night. And let’s not forget the deer. I live in an area of forest and love seeing them in the wild but in the garden, they have a nasty habit of de-flowering plants and chewing the bark from young trees.

Then there are the creatures which arrive from overseas via the sky, shipping containers, plants and products. Remember the New Zealand flat worm? Some of these arrivals appear to be a storm in a teacup fuelled by a media frenzy and that certainly seems the case with the antipodean invader, however more recent arrivals such as the Asian hornet, oak processionary moth and rosemary beetle are thriving here and compromising the health of us, our pets and our gardens.

At the other end of spectrum are the garden ‘workers’ which ought to be welcomed with open arms. Hedgehogs are not only adorable but have a taste for slugs and cause little damage to the garden. Frogs and toads do the same job. And songbirds of course manage insect populations. But not all birds are good. Pigeons have a penchant for braking brassicas as they kamikaze into them in search of sustenance and other garden birds will nip the tops off emerging veg seedlings.

Then there are the pollinators, which agro-chemicals are decimating, so not only should we welcome these critters we should also go out of out way to evolve the garden to suit them, and it’s not difficult. Simply adding water in the form of a pond or barrel, being a bit more untidy, leaving material in border to break down and having as many forms of flower across as many season as possible will support and encourage these victimised species.

So, maybe it’s about thinking differently? Perhaps the approach is about learning to live with our wildlife? Should we be planting deer, slug, rabbit and pigeon-proof plants or maybe learning to accept some of the losses in our garden? It’s a careful balancing act, I think.

Ultimately, each of our gardens are mini ecosystems linked by earth, plants and air to the wider eco-web. Just like in the wild if a particular population explodes it has huge impacts on its environment and the available resources. So, should we really welcome all wildlife?

For the vast majority I’d say yes, they are literally intrinsic to the health of our gardens. But its all about balance. Allow one population to expand unchecked and it will have impacts on another and the wider environment. In conclusion I’d simply say – lets focus on supporting our helpful native creatures, exclude destructive ones without damaging them and deter the non-native invaders.

Get in touch:

Do you garden with wildlife in mind? Which creatures do you like to see in your garden and which ones do you try to keep out? Email us your thoughts at: letters@gardenersworld.com

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