by Geoff Wakeling

Created on: March 17, 2009

The Importance of Water in Nature Gardens

Encouraging wildlife into the ordinary garden may seem daunting at first, but with the correct planting and thought to shelter, crevices and food it can be done. Seeing the season's first butterfly feeding on plentiful nectar or a bird busy collecting caterpillars for its burgeoning brood stirs extraordinary feelings of joy. But whilst people collect and plant the right flowers, create log piles for homes, and set up bird boxes, the importance of water in the nature garden can be all but forgotten.

It is taken for granted, being piped into our homes, serving us fresh water everyday. The human body contains up to 70% water, and we die of thirst long before hunger yet when it comes to the nature garden often the thought of a small life saving reservoir does not even cross the mind. Your blue tit family may be growing fast, your hedgehog's nightly wanders fruitful, but think how much more efficient it would be to have water nearby. The blue tit family could get more food as their parents were freed from searching for water, your bustling hedgehog able to spend a happy extra hour or two snacking on juicy slugs.

Building a water feature into the nature garden doesn't even necessarily need to be a huge undertaking. Many shy away, thinking that a pond is too much effort, too unsafe for children, a long term responsibility which will take much upkeep. Whilst this may be true for the large sustained pond it is not necessary to think on this scale, the watering hole can be far smaller and modest.

For the urban gardener watering holes are far more critical than in the countryside where there are boundless places for wildlife to seek watery refuges. As development in cities and suburbs increases and concrete creeps in dark monotonous grey across the ground, ponds are becoming far more infrequent and further apart. The average city garden by no means has the space to accommodate a full scale pond so nature enthusiasts should look to smaller, simpler ways of solving the solution.

What about plugging an old bath or ceramic basin and sinking it into the earth? An upturned dustbin lid can be ideal for a simple drinking spot, whilst many of the larger plastic tubs available at garden centre's can make ideal mini water environments, both sunk into the ground or stood in a shady corner. Depending on your creativeness you can turn your simple solution into quite a feature planting Hosta's or Ferns or brightly coloured flora to make a natural or eye catching display. Bird baths will aid your feathered friends, whilst ground based supplies can help Foxes, Hedgehogs, migrating amphibians and become a refuge and home for May and Dragonflies.

It seems strange that whilst all the attention goes into creating log piles, planting nectar rich borders, putting up wooden bird lofts amongst a multitude of other ideas one major life giving element is forgotten water. As expensive or cheap to install as your choose, smaller pools need no more upkeep than ordinary gardening, and the nature garden is sure of benefits. These will soon become apparent with current residents taking advantage and many more moving in. As natural habitats are increasingly encroached upon and urban wildlife tries to sustain a foothold in their old world an upturned dustbin lid might seem trivial to you, but it's a life saver to those living in your leafy garden.

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