Nature Watch, with Ron Freethy

AS the temperature drops, gardeners hang up tools, hose and gloves for the onslaught of winter. With just a few minor changes to your traditional gardening approach, you can still play an important role in encouraging wildlife into your own back yard this winter.

If you've ever wanted a garden flourishing with wildlife and to watch robins hoppety hop from tree to garden fence, hedgehogs hibernating and squirrels foraging The Wildlife Trusts have top tips for encouraging wildlife in the midst of winter.

Nothing could be easier than giving birds a helping hand over the winter months. Providing water is just as important as putting out bird food over winter, make sure that you provide regular supplies of both and that water is kept ice-free.

Even if birds don't appear to be using your bird table, many birds will note the location and return once their normal food supplies run out.

If you are keen to keep your garden tidy over the winter months spare a thought for the tiny creatures that need small cracks and crevices to hibernate in. Ladybirds love dry plant debris, loose bark and hollow stems for their perfect winter homes. Too much tidying can remove vital hiding places for hibernating hedgehogs.

Don't trim creepers back too violently; the gap between wall and plant acts as a shelter for overwintering insects. Leave fallen fruit where it lands; it often provides birds, especially winter thrushes, with much needed treats. Brave the temperature! Build a pond or a water feature that will attract frogs and newts in the early spring. Slug eating frogs, toads and newts can survive the winter in damp, hidden and shaded places. If this year you'd like to turn a 'green' leaf over in your garden try applying some simple conservation methods in your own back garden.

Protect previous marshlands by buying compost that does not contain peat. Peat bogs are rapidly disappearing wildlife habitats, 94 per cent of peat bogs have been lost in the UK since 1950.

Making your own compost is easy to do, provides your garden with all the nutrients it needs and saves local authorities from dumping large amounts of household waste.

Avoid the use of chemicals. There are plenty of natural alternatives.

If you have a slug problem - don't use pellets to kill them, these also end up killing frogs, birds and hedgehogs that prey on garden slugs. Instead, try planting plants that slugs don't like around the plant or sinking a small container of beer in your garden to attract slugs that can then be easily extracted.

With countryside increasingly under threat from road building, housing and industrial development and intensive farming and forestry, every garden, no matter how big or small, is a potential mini nature reserve.

For a copy of The Wildlife Trusts Gardening leaflet with tips on all-year-round gardening for wildlife contact Lancashire Wildlife Trust on 01772 324129 or send a A5 stamped (39p) SAE to Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Cuerden Park Wildlife Centre, Shady lane, Bamber Bridge, Preston, PR6 7SD.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.