Please note:

The Go Wild Festival ran at Kew and Wakehurst place for the summer of 2003. As such many of the festival features can no longer be seen in the gardens, but this website has been kept to give visitors access to wealth of information developed to support the festival.

Don't forget to check out the latest events in the gardens. Find out more......

Creating new habitats

	Common darter Peter Gasson

Gardens can be made even more attractive to wildlife by creating new habitats. Even the addition of a simple pile of logs provides extra hiding places and food for insects. Mini wildflower meadows can be very colourful and need less mowing than conventional lawns. Summer meadows are cut in autumn after seed has been shed while spring meadows are cut in June and October allowing shorter flowers to grow. Ponds and other water features provide habitats for many different insects and aquatic creatures which, in their turn, attract birds and amphibians.

Ponds

Common frog Peter Gasson

Ponds and bog gardens can provide alternative habitats for plants and animals in threatened natural wetlands.

If the pond is dug in spring and filled with rainwater, the new environment will stabilise rapidly and local wildlife such as frogs and newts will begin to colonise it. The pond should have shallow margins to provide easy access for animals. Creating different depths of water within the pond allows a variety of plants and animals to colonise.

More wildlife will use the pond if it is surrounded by native species. Marginal planting provides cover and food for animals using the pond.

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What is biodiversity?
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