Inspired by the recent “Open Yardens” weekend, we thought it would be a good idea to start a strand of the wildlife blog with ideas, inspirations, practical tips and stories focusing on local gardening/yardening for wildlife.
As the person who suggested this, I offered to write the first article.
A typical back yard
Like many people in Lancaster, I don’t have a large outdoor space, just a typical back yard roughly 6x4m. For nearly twenty years I simply stared at it thinking “I should do something with it.” Three years ago, I finally began to plant a few things, but no more than that. I was therefore amazed when I recently began to record the wildlife I could see there.
Recording wildlife
For the last seven or eight weeks I have popped out to the yard for 5-10 minutes, three or four times a week, with my very basic Pixel 8a phone to take photographs of what I could see. I then uploaded the images to iNaturalist, the free wildlife recording website and app. iNaturalist suggests what it might be and other can people help confirm the ID too.
This is just a small selection of what I recorded over the last few weeks. (If you can help improve or correct any of the identifications, just let me know in the comments form at the bottom.)
Bees
Butterflies
Ladybirds
Flies
My iNaturalist records
You can see all of my recent garden observations at my iNaturalist observations page.
What’s in your yarden?
If I’ve found this much in a small, poorly tended yard, I can only imagine what’s out there in other gardens and back yards around Lancaster and would love to hear what other people have found. You can let me know in the comments box below, along with any questions or suggestions you might have.
Future articles
If you would be interested in writing a short article for this section of the blog, or would be happy to talk to me and I could write it, then just email me at and let me know.