Creating a wildlife-friendly garden

Native birds are being encouraged to return to suburban gardens through the creation of ‘mainland islands’ – areas of bush protected from predators. Planning a garden to attract and support kererū and other birds coming from these islands is not difficult.

Karori Wildlife Sanctuary is one example of a mainland island. Inside its predator-proof boundary fence, food resources are regenerating and thriving. Within a few years, populations of native birds like tūī and bellbird have proliferated, and now birds venture over the borders to forage in surrounding suburbs.

In the suburbs that receive these wanderers, landowners can modify their gardens to include more leaf litter, food-producing local species, and other resources.

Planning guides to assist gardeners with this process already exist. These typically focus on making the garden as naturalistic as possible, with the aesthetics of the plan left to you. Following their advice will quickly reward you with an abundance of species.

Even if you prefer another gardening style, it is still easy to provide habitat for wildlife, as long as some general rules are followed. The guidelines below will help you to recreate birds’ natural habitat conditions as far as possible, and they give plenty of scope for creativity in how you apply them.