Encouraging Wildlife

How Can Your Business Encourage Wildlife and Natural Based Tourism?

Why encourage wildlife?

There are two excellent reasons to take an interest in wildlife

• Encouraging more birds, mammals and insects helps green spaces to thrive
• Nature based tourism is one of the growing sectors of tourism

Taking an interest in wildlife, encouraging others to do the same and advertising the wildlife opportunities you offer is good for the environment and good for business.

How to encourage wildlife

There are four elements to encouraging wildlife

• Work with nature, not against it - Look at what wants to grow and live in your space, then help it thrive. Avoid pesticides, chemicals and sprays.
• Create habitat - Create places wildlife want to be - shrubs, piles of leaves, dead wood, wet areas and ponds, undisturbed 'wild' areas etc.
• Plant species that attract wildlife - Focus on native species and ones that thrive in your area. Use this postcode plant finder to find out what grows well near you that wildlife loves: www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/plants-fungi/postcode-plants/.
• Do feed the animals - Put out food for birds, hedgehogs, squirrels, foxes and others - but once you start don't stop. Also plant flora that provide seeds, nuts and berries to create natural food.

Easy ways to encourage and promote wildlife

There are lots of ways to encourage wildlife and to get staff, customers and visitors interested.

Steps for everyone (including those with no outside space at all)

Whatever the size of your outdoor space you can encourage wildlife and visitor interest. Even if you have no garden or outside areas you can still

• Have window boxes with plants that attract bees and butterflies 
• Have nesting boxes for birds or small mammals
• Fix bird-feeders to your walls or window ledges
• Have display boards or cases that promote local wildlife and species
• Promote local areas of natural beauty, conservation sites and wildlife sites through displays, literature and your website
• Promote local nature-based businesses that offer wildlife or natural habitat experiences
• Use technology to connect to local wildlife-watching sites eg local webcams or closed circuit TV of badgers, foxes, birds etc
• Promote wildlife events - check your local authority, press, areas of outstanding national beauty, national parks and local wildlife group websites

Small outside spaces including car parks

If you have even a small amount of external space there is a lot more you can do:

• Have wildlife friendly parking and parking surfaces - Don't pave or concrete, use gravel and parking matrix (recycled plastic interlocking hexagonal shapes that can be filled with gravel or 'grassed over'). Plant the edges and 'dead' spaces with beds, climbers, shrubs and tubs. See here for more www.rspb.org.uk/advice/gardening/parking.asp
• Use the vertical space! - Fix trellises or use wires to grow climbing plants like ivy, virginia creeper, honeysuckle and even hops or espaliered trees. These create habitats for animals and insects and food like berries and seeds.
• Use trees!  - You can grow climbers up trees to increase the habitat and fix bird and squirrel boxes in trees. Planting trees that fruit or give berries provides food for wildlife.
• Plant colourful, flowering and scented plants and shrubs - Shrubs like buddleia, broom and heather attract butterflies; lavender, honeysuckle, foxglove and columbine attract bees; birds love plants that go to seed, like sunflowers, or that provide berries, like holly.
• Create habitats - Even the smallest space can be used to create habitats: piles of leaves under bushes and shrubs, piles of deadwood, undisturbed areas, a small pond or bog - even a hedgehog shelter made from a sturdy crate covered in stones and leaves. Or fix wooden boxes to trees or walls to make small mammal homes.
• Put out feeders and water -You can put out food (and water) for birds, squirrels, foxes, and even deer if you live in a rural area. However, once you start don't stop. Animals come to rely on the food you provide, failing to put it out can seriously affect their survival. Be careful not to put out too much - it's a supplement rather than full provision, and leftover food can attract unwanted vermin.
• Make compost - Compost piles can create wonderful habitats for hedgehogs, slow worms and even grass snakes, but be careful to turn the compost over carefully.

Bigger garden ideas

If you have a bigger garden, there is even more you can do:

• Include plants that attract bees, butterflies and insects in your planting scheme
• Plant a wildflower garden or leave an area for grassland
• Put in shrubs and hedging to create habitats for small mammals and butterflies
• Plant trees - especially native species - and create mini-woodlands
• Create ponds and bogs
• Create rockeries and other rocky, gravel and 'hard' environments
• Leave an area completely undisturbed
• Put up bird and small mammal nesting points
• Install CCTV or webcams at feeding or nesting points and relay the pictures to guests via TV or your website

Some useful websites

• www.wildlife-gardening.org.uk - Space for Nature Gardening Forum is for people who want to increase wildlife and biodiversity in their gardens and who want to use sustainable gardening practices.
• www.rspb.org.uk - Not just about birds! The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds website covers a huge range of information about greener living and gardening and about all wildlife.
• www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals -Comprehensive information and resources from the BBC about animals and wildlife.
• www.bbc.co.uk/gardening -Extensive information on all aspects of gardening and the environment.