Wildlife-friendly gardening in January

Large or small, your garden or green space can make a real difference to local wildlife and the way you choose to care for your garden matters. Collectively, wildlife-friendly green spaces act as mini stepping stones across our towns and villages, helping wildlife find food, water, shelter, and places to breed. Together, they create a living landscape where wildlife can thrive.

Throughout the year we will be sharing monthly tips on how you can help wildlife in your garden, local green space or on your balcony. From pots on patios to shrubs in borders, we can all make space for nature in 2023 and help stop the decline in biodiversity.

Happy New Year and welcome to the first wildlife gardening blog of 2023! 

After the festive celebrations, January can seem a bit grey, and spring can feel a long way off. There are, however, still lots of things we can do for wildlife in the month of January. 

Parks and gardens are a wonderful place to watch birds busily foraging. The bare winter trees, fallen branches, leaf litter and old flower stems provide a winter refuge for insects and, in turn, generate a major source of food. Pledge to leave any garden ‘tidying’ until the spring to help winter wildlife.  

Keep feeding and providing water for birds and take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch. The information collected helps scientists understand how garden birds are faring year on year, and what needs to be done to help. 

Bird song is also picking up as birds set up territories in advance of the breeding season. This is a good time to think about building and siting a nest box. Robins are naturally cavity nesters but will use open fronted nest boxes if they are ‘buried’ in dense vegetation. Find out more about the UK’s ‘favourite bird’ in our ‘Species of the Month’ feature. 

If the rain is lashing at the window, January can be a brilliant time to plan your garden. Think about the wildlife you spotted last year and how you could boost numbers in 2023. Is there enough food (nectar, berries, insects) and shelter (shrubs, bird boxes, log piles)? Could you provide more water?  Perhaps add another shallow dish, bird bath or create a mini pond? Check out our wildlife friendly garden web pages and note your ideas so that you can take-action as soon as the weather improves. 

In the meantime, you can get creative indoors and make a home for solitary bees. These are best placed in a sunny spot, but even in the shade other insects will use them for shelter!   

Insects are a group which we can all help. Although January may seem like a quiet time for insects, look out for buff-tailed bumblebee queens and workers foraging for food. This is the only bumblebee to have active colonies regularly recorded in winter and they are regularly seen in urban areas. You can help this brave, hardy bumblebee by growing sources of winter nectar such as mahonia or hellebore, or perhaps have some snowdrops and winter aconite in pots. 