A Welcoming Space
Creating a welcoming space for wildlife means making your garden or grounds safe, healthy, accessible and attractive to as many species as possible, including humans! You can do this by providing ‘lifecycle resources’, this means food, water, refuge and shelter, places to nest, places to hibernate, dark nocturnal spaces, and safe routes in and out, linking with other favourable locations nearby. You can make a start, do a little, add to it when you can, and build up all the elements that wildlife really needs.
Where ?
Everywhere and Anywhere!! that’s the great thing about nature recovery, you can make a real difference for wildlife, no matter where you are, and no matter what you have. Gardens, schools, farms, community spaces, business parks, street planters and window boxes, they all count. From the urban centre of Newport to the Ventnor Undercliff, and from Cowes Harbour to Chale Green, every space can offer a haven for nature if managed with care. For site-specific actions, check out the Isle of Wight Habitat Map, and find out what is particularly special in your neighbourhood.
How?
Here are some general examples to get you started:
Avoid pesticides and herbicides. Choose manual or natural weed control methods and support soil health instead.
Prevent pollution. Avoid washing, rinsing or just allowing chemicals, paint, oil, fuel, fertiliser, detergent and other contaminants to run off into drains. They make water treatment harder and risk direct pollution of rivers and coasts especially after heavy rain.
Control Pets. Keep dogs to paths in the countryside, especially during the breeding season (which is generally taken to be March to September), important in woodlands, ponds, fields, meadows and around hedgerows where there will be lots of ground-nesting birds. Winter disturbance to wildlife can be a serious problem too, so please don’t let your dogs chase the ducks, geese and waders on Ryde Sands or along the Medina Estuary. Try to reduce the risk of wildlife death from cats too (everything from slow worms to bats!), by using bells, bright collars, good and sufficient nutrition and plenty of indoor stimulation.
Don’t be too tidy. Tidiness often removes the very materials that wildlife depends on, fallen leaves, seed heads, dead stems, logs and even piles of soil or rubble. All of these things can provide food, shelter and essential seasonal habitats. Aim for a balance: neat where you need it, wild where you can.
Break up reflections on glass. Birds often mistake reflected trees or sky for open flight paths. If you have noticed incidents of bird-strike, consider using stickers, vinyls, window films, and other methods to reduce the risk of impact.
Reduce lighting at night. Dark spaces are essential for nocturnal wildlife to flourish. Where you have artificial light installed make sure it is directed downward to reduce wider ‘spill’, and turn off outdoor lights when you’re not using them. You can make your night gardens even better by adding night-flowering plants like Evening Primrose, Jasmine and Nicotiana.
Provide water and make it safe: Ponds are fantastic for wildlife, no matter how small. Add pebbles or ramps to ponds, troughs and buckets so hedgehogs, bees, and amphibians can climb out easily. Keep bird baths clean and filled with fresh water.
Plant a mix of native and non-invasive ornamentals. Diverse planting can make your space both beautiful and beneficial for wildlife.
Include people. Add seating, learn about your local wildlife, in public areas, include small info boards so others can learn, watch, and enjoy wildlife too.
When?
All year round, day and night, 24/7, 7/11 ! A welcoming space grows through small, regular acts of care — reducing disturbance in spring and summer, topping up water in dry months, and cleaning feeders and water dishes through winter, making sure that safe refuges for wildlife are protected and left undisturbed, leaving room for nature to make its own decisions in terms for what might grow there and how wildlife might choose to colonise.
Why?
A welcoming space provides essential support for our wildlife to survive. Strengthening that link between us and nature improves our wellbeing, and brings daily contact with the living systems that we ultimately depend on. Small refuges can build into an Island-wide network of nature recovery if we work together, support one another’s efforts and share our experiences and learning.
Actions for Isle of Wight Species
The West European Hedgehog has been identified as a Champion species for the Island, meaning it really needs our help to survive. Hedgehogs benefit from chemical-free gardens with safe water sources and passage gaps through fences.
Amphibians use clean ponds with easy access to breed safely and with nearby and well-connected cover for foraging, local migrations and hibernation. The Common Frog, Common Toad and Great Crested Newt are Champion species, in need of extra help in urban areas.
Bats and moths flourish when gardens stay dark after dusk. The Garden Tiger and Buttoned Snout moths are Champion species, along with the Greater Horseshoe Bat, Grey Long-eared Bat, Nathusius's Pipistrelle and Serotine bat. Nocturnal wildlife needs special care.
Observe and Record
Take photos before and after — even a few months apart shows change.
Note how wildlife establishes: bees, birds, butterflies, mosses.
Watching your patch change is part of the recovery story and your records can feed into the Island’s Local Nature Recovery data. You can join the Island’s recorder network through the Isle of Wight Natural History and Archaeological Society .
“Contributes to LNRS overarching measures that promote stewardship, reduced pollution, and community action: CR2.1 Water quality management in source- protection zones | LGH2.1 Nutrient management and control on grasslands | LGH2.2 Nutrient management and control in headwaters | UGG1.4 Urban pollution control”