January can be the coldest month of the year and a time when natural food sources for wildlife are scarce.

Here's how you can help wildlife through out January.

Keep bird feeders topped up

Keep putting out calorie-rich food such as peanuts, sunflower hearts and suet products.  Birds will also appreciate a baked potato, chopped apples, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, strawberries and grated cheese.

Check bird boxes

Now is the time to check your bird boxes are still good for next season.  Make sure they are strong and don't have any signs of rotting, check they are fixed safely to the fence, wall or tree.  Remove any nesting material.  Replace old damaged boxes with new ones.

Recycle your Christmas tree

Remove the branches and bundle them together to make a wildlife habitat that can be tucked away at the back of a border in your garden.  You could also chop up the trunk and add this to your log pile.

Watch out for bees when digging

If you come across a queen been while digging, do not rebury her.  Gently put her somewhere cold and dry where she can continue to hibernate and offer her a sugar solution of equal parts sugar and water in a bottle top, which may give her the energy to find another place to hibernate if she doesn't like where you have chosen for her.

What's best for nature and wildlife

Variety is key to supporting nature and wildlife.  The best thing you can do to get started is add a tree (preferably fruiting), add water, have a pile of logs on the ground, don't use pesticides and don't prune or tidy the garden as often. 

From there add as wide a variety of plants and flowers of differing heights, including ground covering plants. 

Wild, cultivated, native, non-native are all good choices.  But the best thing you can do for the environment is having the right plant in the right location, this means you don't have to change or improve your soil, or water lots throughout the year.

It's a good idea to add wildflowers to your garden as they are becoming an endangered species and may disappear from the wild.

To improve your garden for wildlife doesn't mean you have to have a scruffy looking garden, so don't beat yourself up if you choose to have mainly short grass, or want the edges to look tidy, or you choose to deadhead plants because you want more flowers.  Every plant you add goes a long way in helping wildlife.

More articles about wildlife gardening:

Wildlife gardening jobs for February
Wildlife gardening jobs for March
Wildlife gardening jobs April
Wildlife gardening jobs May
Wildlife gardening jobs June
Wildlife gardening jobs July
Wildlife gardening jobs for August
Wildlife gardening jobs for November
Wildlife gardening jobs for December
How to attract birds to your garden
How to attract bees to your garden
Sowing and growing wildflowers