Design a bird-friendly space for birds on your doorstep

1. Choose a space around your home, school or in your local area that birds are not using.

2. Think about how birds could use the space – how could you provide water, food, and shelter?

3. Think about how people would use the space – how could you make it beautiful and practical? Could you have seating? Vegetable beds? Smelly flowers? Artwork? Think about all the senses.

4. Think about the size and shape of the space – what could you fit in it?

5. Think about the location of the space – how much sun and rain does it get?

6. Think about what is already in the space such as large trees, paving, walls, fencing, or old bricks and stones. How could you incorporate, use or repurpose these in your design?

7. Think about including native flowers, shrubs, trees, water, habitat piles, bug and bird nestboxes.

8. Research plants – which ones attract bugs and birds with nectar, berries and seeds? Which are a good size for the space? Do they like sun or shade? What type of soil do they like? When do they need to be planted? When do they flower? Try to provide food and shelter all year round.

9. Research ways to bring water into your garden such as with a bird bath, fountain, or pond.

10. Draw and plan out your ideas – what could go where? Think about which features will be permanent such as a tree or pond? What different habitats can you create? For example, areas of long and short grass, and different heights of vegetation. More variety means more biodiversity.

11. Share your design with friends and family.

1.  Think about what you would need to remove from the space or do to prepare it such as digging.

2.  If the space is around your house or in your garden, talk to the adults at home about your ideas.

3. If the space belongs to your school or someone else in your community, discuss your ideas with them before taking action. You could speak to them in person  with your adult, or send them your design with an email or letter explaining what you would like to do with the space.

4.  If you have permission to go ahead with your plans, great! If not, try again with a different space.

5.  Before you start, ask friends if they have plants, materials or tools that you could use or repurpose.

6.   If you need to buy things, calculate how much money you need and think about where to buy them e.g., plant nursery, plant swap, market, garden centre, charity or hardware shop. Could you do pocket money jobs for friends and family? Could you buy one thing this month and another next?

7.  Remove unwanted items from the space and dig the ground as necessary.

8.  Get planting, creating and bring on the birds!