Look after garden wildlife

Refresh your pond and create a safe habitat,

- Ruth Hayes

AS spring advances, we aren't the only things busy in the garden birds, insects and larger wildlife are all feeding A up after winter, nesting and breeding.

One of our garden's main wildlife hubs is the pond and it is starting to return to life after a long winter that saw it freeze often and almost become swamped by excavated soil from a precipitous molehill.

The dry weather in late winter and early spring caused the water level to drop alarmingly, making us wonder whether the lining had sprung a leak.

However, it seems that ponds everywhere have suffered so we added some rain water and hoped spring would do the rest.

Rainwater is better than tap water for ponds, but if you have no water butts, fill your cans with tap water then let them stand for a couple of days so the chemicals dissipate before adding the water to the pond.