How to: Create a backyard wildlife corridor

WATER
Fresh water is a must for thirsty wildlife. Place your birdbath in shade or semi-shade so it doesn’t overheat, and change the water daily to discourage bacteria growth.

Better yet, install a backyard pond. Kits make this once-laborious task a simple weekend project, if you’re willing to roil up your sleeves and get sweaty.

Butterflies don’t drink from pools of water, so provide H2O for them by filling a shallow pan with fine gravel, and filling that with enough water to just keep it wet. Prevent mosquitoes from breeding in your yard, by changing birdbath water daily, and adding an aerator or stream to your pond ¬– skeeter larvae can only survive in still water.

SHELTER
Grow a variety of grasses, plants, bushes and groundcover to ensure shelter for various winged and four- and six-legged critters.<

Carve out niches by stacking landscape rocks so small “caverns” remain on the bottom – small bug-eating garter snakes, toads or other creatures will seek shelter here.

Another way to build an easy shelter for toads is to take a terra cotta flowerpot saucer and chip out a mouse hole-sized gap along the rim, and leave it on the ground in a flowerbed. You could also raise one side up on a stone, to provide an entry point. Install bird, bat- and butterfly houses out of the wind, on the side of your house or garage.

There are a number of ways to enjoy your yard, but creating a wildlife refuge is one of the best because it allows you to reconnect with nature, and welcome colourful birds, butterflies and other living “decorations” much prettier than their store-bought resin replicas!

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