Simple tips to keep your backyard wildlife-friendly
We all love having a thriving garden at home, but making it more environmentally friendly can enhance your garden and protect Australia's beautifully diverse wildlife.
To keep our friendly creatures around we need to ensure our garden practices are not a cause for harm.
You can follow these easy tips to help keep your garden safe and eco-friendly:
1. Plant the smart way
A good start to help pave the way to an environmentally friendly backyard is choosing your plants carefully.
You can do this by selecting local plants that are perfect for your environment. If you are unsure, you can check with your local council to see if they have a list of approved plants.
According to Backyard Buddies CEO, Ian Darbyshire, “When planting, try to arrange flora of diverse heights together and position shrubs and grasses in dense clumps. This will provide shelter for smaller creatures and attract insects and lizards that large birds love to eat”.
2. Avoid chemicals
It may be tempting to fall for chemical pesticides and fertilisers, but they are one of the biggest harm causing factors to native wildlife.
Instead, you can aim to attract more beneficial insects like ladybirds, and hoverflies as they can help remove unwanted bugs from your garden.
An alternative option is to install a birdbath to help garner the attention of pest-eating birds.
3. Be conscious of your pets
Our beloved pets may be cute as can be, but they can cause trouble in the garden.
It is best to keep them fenced away from trees and the garden as they can attack unsuspecting possums and koalas.
It’s also best to keep cats inside at night to prevent them from hunting them down at night.
4. Save a life
The biggest way you can do your part is by helping out injured or unwell animals, wherever you may find them. To do this, it is best to get in contact with a wildlife carer by contacting one of their many 24-hour hotlines.
Darbyshire also warns to be careful at all times, “To avoid danger to yourself and the animal, don’t try to handle flying foxes, venomous reptiles, snakes or birds of prey. When approaching an animal, be extremely cautious. Wild animals are not used to being handled and may lash out. As tempting as it is, do not feed them or give them water as wild animals have specialised diets and you can easily make them sick.”
