What can I do to encourage native animals to live in my backyard?

There are many things you can do to create a home for native animals in your backyard.

Gardening

  • Add native plants to your garden to provide natural food sources for birds and butterflies.
  • Avoid chemical fertilisers and pesticides: there are often very simple, much cheaper, chemical-free alternatives
    More information about chemical free gardening.
  • Use leaf mulch on your garden, which is great for worms and tiny bugs.
  • Use rocks in your garden to provide a haven or sunny spot for lizards.
  • Prune and tidy your garden gradually to allow native animals to adjust to new conditions.
  • Check for lizards when gardening or mowing to avoid injuring them.

Birdhouse or nest box

Provide birds with an additional shelter source by building a nest box or a birdhouse.
How to build a nest box

Frog pond

A native fish pond creates a home for frogs and fish and adds a water feature for you to feast your eyes on.
How to build a frog pond

Butterfly box

Butterflies look for warm sheltered places to spend winter. Providing a butterfly house will help out and mean a lot more butterflies in the spring time.
How to build a butterfly box

More information

For more information about how to get more enjoyment from our native plants and animals, go to Backyard Buddies.