No matter how big or small your garden is, you can make a contribution in providing habitat for native birds and animals. Your garden can provide an important stepping stone for birds and other animals to move around the landscape.

To create a garden that is friendly to wildlife, here are a few simple tips.

• Select mostly native and ideally indigenous plants. Indigenous plants are the best adapted to your local soil and climate conditions, requiring minimal watering and coping with drought conditions.
• Create clumps of shrubs for small birds to nest. The pricklier the better!
• Plant nectar rich flowers for honeyeaters – try and ensure there are nectar sources year round from various plants.
• A cat safe bird bath near shrubs.
• A pond with unpolluted water, some sedges and pond plants, and a deeper, cooler patch of water for frogs and tadpoles.
• An area of long tussock grass and daisies for butterflies, skinks and lizards.
• Some rocks for sunbaking lizards.
• Nest boxes for bats, possums or gliders if your trees are too young for hollows, (it takes about 100 years for a native tree to develop hollows).

Just one ‘Garden for Wildlife’ can make a difference, but many wildlife-friendly gardens together can provide a much greater area of protection and linkages across landscapes for wildlife to live and move safely.