Clean your bird feeders 

Next time you go to refill your bird feeder, bring the feeders in and give them a good scrub with some eco washing up liquid and warm water. Bird feeders can collect quite a lot of detritus and end up as breeding grounds for germs and viruses for our avian friends. Don’t forget to provide some fresh water too. 

Leave that leaf pile, garden waste pile and other piles of organic material alone! 

We know your hands are itching to get all of that garden waste into your green bin, or to do a tip run, but at the moment that organic waste is home to lots of wildlife, both mammals and invertebrates who would really appreciate a little longer being safe and warm (preferably the end of spring). If you are wanting to tidy a little bit, then you could gently rake leaves etc into a pile. 

Get room service for your bee hotel 

If you have a bee hotel then early spring is a great time to clean it out! Solitary bees like a clean home, so grab some pipe cleaners and scrub those little pockets and tubes out. If the end of a space is covered with something, then it may mean that there’s a little cocoon in there, so leave them ‘bee’. It’s important to clean bee hotels out, as sometimes fungi and mites can end up in there, endangering our pollinators.

No mow May! 

You know the deal – don't mow your lawn in May, leave those early flowers like dandelions for our pollinator friends. Dandelions are great providers of pollen and nectar, easy for bees, butterflies and more to access, so they are a fantastic early source of energy before many other flowers come out.

Check your hedges 

Many birds are already nest building, and if your box hedge or privet are providing a home already, then you’ll have to sit tight until the nest is empty before you trim. Watch whether birds are going in and out, and take a closer look for nesting materials within the hedge.

It is a legal offence to harm nesting birds, or their eggs, under Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981.