Why Pollinators Need a Hand

Walk any hedgerow in late July and you will still hear the hum, but it is quieter than it was. habitat loss, tidy farming and the disappearance of old-fashioned flower-rich meadows have all taken their toll. The good news for those of us with a bit of land, a garden or even a generous allotment is that smallholdings and country gardens can genuinely make a difference. A well-planted half-acre can support more bees, hoverflies and butterflies than a manicured park ten times its size.

The trick is not to do more, but to do it a little less neatly. Pollinators want three things: food from early spring to late autumn, somewhere safe to nest or overwinter, and a reliable drink. Get those right and the garden will buzz from March to October.

Plant Native Wildflowers for a Long Season

Native plants and pollinators evolved together, so they recognise each other. A bee that has fed on foxgloves for generations will find them again by sight and scent. Aim for a succession of flowers rather than one glorious June display that leaves everything hungry by August.

Start with the early risers. Willow, blackthorn, hawthorn and dandelion give queen bumblebees their first meal when little else is out. In late spring and summer, foxglove, red clover, knapweed, field scabious, ox-eye daisy and bird's-foot trefoil will pull in bees and butterflies by the dozen. For late colour, devil's-bit scabious, hemp-agrimony and ivy are invaluable — ivy flowers in autumn and is one of the best single plants for bees before winter.

Butterflies are fussier. The adults drink nectar, but the caterpillars need specific food plants. Nettles feed peacock, small tortoiseshell and red admiral larvae. Bird's-foot trefoil supports the common blue, holly and ivy the holly blue, and thistles the painted lady.

• Sow a native wildflower mix on poor soil — rich ground grows grass, not flowers.
• Leave a strip of rough grass at the meadow edge; butterflies use it for basking and shelter.
• Cut half the meadow in late summer and the other half in spring, so something is always standing.
• Resist the urge to deadhead everything — seed heads feed birds, and stems are overwintering habitat.

Leave a Patch of Nettles

This is the advice that makes neat gardeners twitch, but it works. A patch of nettles in a sunny corner, ideally sheltered and left uncut, is a nursery for some of our most familiar butterflies. Peacocks, small tortoiseshells and red admirals all lay their eggs on the undersides of nettle leaves, and the caterpillars live in silken webs among the tops.

You do not need an acre of them. A bed about a metre square, tucked behind a shed or along a hedge, is plenty. Cut it back in early June and again in late July to encourage fresh, tender growth — the very leaves the butterflies prefer. If you are worried about the sting, wear gloves and keep the patch away from paths and gateways.

Nettles are also a fine early source of aphids, which in turn feed ladybirds and blue tit chicks, so a nettle bed quietly supports far more than butterflies.

Provide Shallow Water and Basking Spots

Bees need water, especially in hot weather, when they use it to cool the hive. They cannot swim, so shallow is essential. A saucer of water with a few stones, corks or pebbles breaking the surface gives them a safe landing platform. Top it up every couple of days — a birdbath with a gently sloping edge works equally well, and butterflies will sip at damp mud around the rim.

Butterflies, being cold-blooded, need warmth before they can fly. Leave a few flat stones, a patch of bare earth or a south-facing log pile to catch the sun. A sheltered, sunny border with a hedge behind it becomes a sun trap and will hold far more butterflies than an exposed one, however well planted.

Make the Garden a Home, Not Just a Café

Food and water bring pollinators in; nesting and shelter keep them. Around two-thirds of our wild bees nest underground, in bare patches of sandy soil or old vole burrows. Others use hollow plant stems, dead wood or holes in walls. A simple bundle of hollow canes tied together and hung in a sunny, dry spot will be colonised within a season. Leave dead stems standing over winter rather than cutting everything to the ground — they are bee hotels in disguise.

Avoid pesticides wherever you can. Even a "bee-friendly" spray applied in the evening can linger on flowers into the next day. Let the ladybirds and hoverflies do the work; a healthy garden with a bit of diversity tends to find its own balance.

A Few Final Pointers

• Plant in generous drifts rather than single specimens — pollinators find massed flowers more easily.
• Choose single, open flowers; double blooms often hide the nectar and pollen.
• Keep something in flower every month from March to November.
• Let a corner go wild, and do not apologise for it.

None of this needs money or machinery. A packet of native seed, a spade, a saucer of water and a little deliberate untidiness will do more for the countryside than most of us realise. Sit on the bench with a cup of tea in August and watch what arrives — that is the reward.