Wildlife and allotments

Beautiful weather, workable soil, the feeling of the seasons turning. It's been a long winter, and the sense of spring properly emerging is very welcome.

As I got busy this week, turning the compost over and weeding out clumps of straggly couch grass, my constant companions were the robins who have moved into one of our nesting boxes.

Watching their courtship and housewarming has been quite lovely.

Apparently, the male robin will build several nests, and the female will then choose her preferred home. As she considers her options, the male bird brings her morsels of food, passed from beak to beak, as proof of his ability to provide.

Once she is ready, she will lay an egg a day, usually early in the morning, but she won't start to sit on them until she has a whole clutch.

Seeing this whole process over the past few weeks has been really enjoyable, but it's also underlined the value of gardening as a part of nature, rather than trying to fight against it.

Every grub the robin seizes upon is one less pest. The bright green caterpillars that somehow I couldn't spot between the rows of chard and kale, are being assiduously removed, without me having to do a thing, and as the robin pair work all hours, I am getting an exceptionally good deal.

So, why did these robins choose our nesting box? Probably for the same reasons that we have a multitude of variously sized frogs, slow worms, bees and other birds as co-residents too – we have done something active to encourage their presence.

A garden or allotment can very easily be adjusted to make it a valuable wildlife microcosm, rather than a barren prairie of growth in straight lines. Simple changes will make a big difference, and they don't have to cost anything. For instance, stacking thicker prunings and logs into a mini woodpile will make a haven for all kinds of wildlife. A frog the size of a saucer is sometimes to be found under a plank that runs from the nettle- edged old bath to the path at the side of our plot.

Wildlife corridors like this make for safe movement without being visible from above. Similarly, a well covered compost box is a basking site for slow worm families with their young, all of whom will emerge to feed on slugs as the year moves on.

Early flowers encourage all sorts of bees to visit regularly, giving them sustenance when there is little else around. Poached egg plant in particular will attract bees and hoverflies galore, boosting pollination rates for your crops and decimating the aphid population.

To find out more about gardening wisely, remember Seedy Saturday, which is happening this weekend between 10.30am and 3.30pm at St Stephen's Church off Corn Street, where all sorts of plants herbs and seeds will be on sale and you can pick up lots more advice on how to garden organically.