Insecticides and Weedkillers
With a fully balanced range of wildlife in and around your garden, chemical pesticides and weedkillers should not be necessary
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Slugs and snails are controlled by blackbirds, thrushes, frogs and hedgehogs
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Aphids are controlled by ladybirds and tits
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Caterpillars are controlled by tits and finches
If your garden is young and you haven’t yet achieved the full range of wildlife then you may, initially, need some artificial assistance to keep pests in check.
There are many vegetable-based pesticides available; they often need more applications than harsh chemicals, but it means that any bird or insect eating the dead pests will not be harmed.
Slugs and snails can be restricted with natural barriers, such as beer traps, oatmeal, copper bands or natural slug deterrents.
The use of slug pellets containing metaldehyde are now banned for sale and use in the UK, these can cause untold damage to wildlife including birds, hedgehogs and even domestic dogs and cats.
Weedkillers are not wildlife friendly – not only are chemicals bad for wildlife and the environment, but native weeds are one of the essentials needed for native insects, birds and mammals.
Lawn feed and weed is not recommended. Lawns are a wonderful resource for a wide range of wildlife, but they need to include mixed flowers and weeds to offer the right habitat for our native species.
Many native weeds are extremely pretty and make excellent additions to bird borders and wild areas. More aggressive weeds can be manually dealt with.