Gardening for wildlife!

Britain’s wildlife needs your help

Over the past 50 years we've seen declines in two-thirds of UK plant and animal species. But together we can help to halt the slide.

Wild About Gardens Week 2016 is a joint initiative by the RHS, The Wildlife Trusts and Bat Conservation Trust to encourage people to support biodiversity in their gardens. This is more important than ever. In 2013, wildlife researchers found that 60 percent of UK animal and plant species have declined in the past 50 years. This is due to a variety of reasons, including loss of habitat.

Many of our common garden species – bats, hedgehogs, house sparrows, and common frogs, for example – are becoming much less common. There are an estimated 15 million gardens in the UK. Together they cover a greater area than all the National nature reserves! So we can help biodiversity by making our own gardens and local green spaces more wildlife-friendly. Wildlife in the garden offers hours offascinating entertainment and many unbeatable pest controllers to help your garden flourish.

What can you do?

There are lots of simple things you can do to support wildlife in your garden or community green space. We’ve created some fantastic resources full of ideas and advice – and we'll be adding more through the year.

Wild About Gardens Week runs from 24–30 October 2016. This year we’ll be looking at steps we can take to support bats and other wildlife. But don't wait until October, there are plenty of fun activities you can do throughout the year. Visit the Wild About Gardens website for ideas on things that can be done in an hour, a day or a weekend. And to be kept in the loop about plans for this year's Wild About Gardens Week, send us an email and we'll contact you as soon as there's more information available.

Follow #WildAboutGardens on Twitter for regular tips on how you can make a difference to the wildlife in your garden. Have a question? Contact us on Facebook or Twitter and we'll do our best to help. From hedgehogs and butterflies to birds and bats; it's time to join forces and do something to help wildlife in your garden!

• wild about gardens week