COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

There is a biodiversity loss crisis, but research into the wildlife found in gardens has made it clear just how important these spaces are as habitat. Discover how much you can learn, and gain, by identifying and documenting what you find beyond your back door

- LIZ POTTER

When it comes to our garden wildlife, it's important to know what's what. It's a sad truth that people are effectively blind to the critters they can't identify. Even the big insects can be confusing for some: we might think we all know what a wasp looks like, but often honey bees have been mistaken for wasps and the pest controller called rather than a local apiarist.

Fortunately, in this digital age of smartphone apps, image recognition software and online ID guides, it's never been easier to tell different species apart. "Knowing what things are is essential, and naming them is the first step," says ecologist Dr Mike Wells, director of Biodiversity by Design. "If you don't know it's a stag beetle, you're not going to be able to discover all the wonders of the thing."

Since 1970, much of Britain's biodiversity has tumbled off a cliff, with 41 per cent of UK plant and animal species in decline. Oncecommon garden creatures now appear on lists of conservation concern: hedgehogs, red squirrels (since the Victorians introduced the grey); house martins, mistle thrushes, swifts and greenfinches; at least six of our 18 native bat species; and half of our butterflies.

Monitoring this gloomy picture has become a national obsession. Every year, thousands of citizen scientists' take part in Buglife's Bugs Matter survey - a grisly splatter-count of insects brought to rest on car number plates. There are audits of the living, too: the Big Butterfly Count; the UK Ladybird Survey; BeeWalk; the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme; the Big Hedgehog Map; and the Great Stag [beetle] Hunt among them. The RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch is the largest of them all, attracting some 540,000 volunteers this year.