How to... create a back garden nature reserve

create a wildlife garden: peacock butterfly on buddleia

Whether you have several acres or just a window box, your outdoor space can easily be turned into a wonderful wildlife haven for a variety of native species.

Plan your planting

Choose native plants that flower and fruit in different seasons to provide a food source all year round. Maximise your space with climbers such as ivy, honeysuckle and clematis. Wild ivy is favoured by hibernating butterflies, and blackbirds and wrens will nest in it if it grows sufficiently thickly (leave pruning until after the nesting season). Its flowers can last until December and fieldfares and redwings will feast on its winter berries when other food is scarce. Plant and replace fences with hedges: they provide shelter and nesting areas and let small mammals scuttle between gardens.

Go wild

Where possible, leave areas of lawn uncut. Long grass, mosses and wild flowers are great for moths, beetles and grasshoppers. Plant a wild-flower meadow: special seed mixes are available. If you love butterflies, don't pull up all the nettles in your garden - they will provide food and shelter for at least five different species of caterpillar.

Dig a pond

The shallow margins of ponds provide a place for birds and mammals to drink and bathe, while frogs and newts lurk in deeper waters and dragonflies and damselflies hover above. Don't include fish; they'll eat all the tadpoles and invertebrates you've worked to attract. If space is limited, get a bird bath or sink a bucket into the ground to fill with rainwater, and stack stones in it for frogs and newts to get out.

Create insect attractions

Plant a mix of pollen-rich plants to flower in different months. Honeysuckle attracts bees, while butterflies love buddleia. Midsummer marjoram, lavender and oregano are alive with insects that move on to sedums and Michaelmas daisies in autumn. Plant in sunny sites as insects, especially butterflies don't feed in shade. Build a log pile - it will play host to everything from fungi and slow worms to wood lice and field mice.

Provide meals for mammals

Introduce fruiting plants and trees: unpicked blackberries are perfect for mice, and fallen apples or pears will provide food for hedgehogs. Dormice love hazel and, like other small mammals, will seek out comfortable hiding places in leafy undergrowth for hibernating. Bats, who live in holes in trees, buildings and caves, will happily nest in a box mounted on a tree. You can buy special boxes to encourage certain mammals (see the Bird Ventures range at www.bird-ventures.co.uk).

Feed the birds

Get a bird table or feeder and put out nuts, fat balls and seeds. Specialist foods are available from online shops such as Wiggly Wigglers (www.wigglywigglers.co.uk) or CJ Wild Bird Foods (www.birdfood.co.uk). Identify the birds in your area, or the favourite snack of those you hope to see. Blue tits like to eat peanuts in hanging feeders and goldfinches will cluster on hanging seed feeders filled with nyger seed, while chaffinches prefer seed on the ground.

Pest control

Stop using chemicals in the garden or you risk poisoning those you want to attract. Aphids, enemy of roses and vegetable patches, are popular with many species. Snails are favourites of thrushes who bash their shells on stones to get to the juicy meat inside, and slugs are enjoyed by blackbirds, hedgehogs and toads. Allow the wildlife to survive and your garden will become a balanced eco-system.

For further inspiration, read 'Creating a Wildlife Friendly Garden' by Sharon Amos (Collins & Brown, £18.99).