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 Five Ways to Make Your Lawn Suitable for Wildlife

A well-maintained lawn, especially one that is mowed weekly and treated with herbicides and synthetic fertilizers, will not produce a good wildlife habitat. Yet its main ingredients - grass and wildflowers - are some of the best plants you can provide for wildlife in your garden. Allowed to grow longer, the grasses provide caterpillar food plants for many butterflies and moths, while flowers such as clover, shelf heel, and bird's foot trefoil provide essential honey and pollen for pollinators.

Still, you do not have to turn your lawn into a forest or turn it into a prairie, suitable for wildlife. When you have mowed your lawn, there are many ways to make your lawn more wildlife-friendly, by changing the way you manage it.

Five Ways to Make Your Lawn Suitable for Wildlife

1 Mow your lawn less often

If you do not use herbicides regularly, your lawn should have a wonderful diversity of wildflowers (sadly often considered 'weeds'), including clover, self-healing, bird's foot trefoil, and dandelions. But these are rarely allowed to bloom in the usual mown lawns.

However, by changing your cutting schedule every three to four weeks instead of weekly, you can allow these plants to grow and bloom between cuttings. You will still have a lawn that will be very colorful at certain times, and bees, butterflies, and other pollinators will be grateful for the extra food source.

2 Let areas grow longer

When you first lay your lawn floor, the grass will usually be a mixture of hard-wearing ryegrass and fescue. However, as it matures, native grasses such as meadow grass, Yorkshire mist, and Timothy grass will sow in it. These are caterpillar food plants for many butterflies, including lawn mowers and cat keepers. If you allow grassy areas to grow longer, they can provide the breeding habitat needed for this pollination.

What’re more, long grasslands provide seeds for birds such as house sparrows and goldfinches, and can provide shelter for smaller mammals such as hedgehogs and walruses. Long grass does not look geeky - why not leave a circle of grass to grow long around a tree, or create a lawn that can cut paths? You can also allow grass to grow longer in areas you do not see from home, such as the back of your shed.

3 Remove the herbicide

Lawn herbicides not only kill pollen and nectar-rich wildflowers growing in your lawn, but they also pollute the soil around it. Some herbicides remain active in the soil for up to a year after use. Further research is needed on the effects of these chemicals, but without fully knowing what happens to soil bacteria, worms, and other invertebrate organisms (depending on other such wildlife), you may want to err on the side of caution.

Weed your hands if you need to, but allowing a wide variety of plants to thrive on your lawn is a very wildlife-friendly option.

4 compost lawn clippings

These days, many of us add garden waste to a green bin that the local council collects to make municipal compost. However, it denies the valuable habitat of wildlife. You do not need a fancy compost bin to compost garden waste - really open piles are best. Pile up lawn pieces with other garden waste in the quiet corner of the garden. You will provide a home for anything from hedgehogs and moths to bumblebees.

5 Keep areas short

While most wildlife benefit from long grass, some species thrive on short-cut grasses, so it is a good idea to cut a portion of the grass close together. Mine bees, such as the spring-flying Danny mining bee and the flying ivy bee, build their nests in the open and mow the lawns close to the sun. For the most wildlife-friendly meadow, it is best to have a mix of lengths so it can be used by as many different species as possible. Consider areas with short and medium lengths, while other areas have long grass patches.