How Can Natural Stones Benefit Wildlife in Your Garden?

If you’re not much of a green thumb, but still want to have attractive features in your garden that add colour, depth and character, then natural stones can help you achieve this. How, you may ask? Well, there are a number of features that you can build out of natural stones that fit perfectly in the garden.

Not only do these benefit the visual quality of your garden space, but they can also offer numerous benefits to wildlife. We’ve listed a couple of things you can build using natural stone and how these in turn are beneficial to the local wildlife.

Rockery

A rockery is a great substantial feature to have in your garden, adding colour and character whilst being incredibly easy to maintain. You can build a rockery in your garden fairly simply with the right resources - all you need is the right tools, some natural stones, topsoil and plants (alpine plants work best, as they are able to thrive in dry, rocky conditions!).

Once you have an established rockery in your garden, this will then attract an array of wildlife. In fact, rockeries are great for promoting biodiversity thanks to the different habitual conditions they offer a number of species.

For example, amphibians such as newts and frogs will happily perch on shaded rocks (especially if you have a nearby pond), whilst the nooks and crannies underneath and between the rocks are the perfect habitat for beetles, spiders and other insects. In turn, this will then attract birds and small mammals looking for food.

Furthermore, if you use any flowering plants in your rockery, then this will also attract pollinators, which are essential for the health of our natural ecosystem.

Dry Stone Wall

If you want to separate your garden space so that it appears more dimensional and has more areas other than simply just grass, doing so using dry stone walling is an excellent idea. These are relatively easy to construct since they don’t require the use of mortar and make for a natural, seamless design feature in your outside space.

The added benefit is that they are great hosts to many plants, such as moss and ferns that grow in the crevices between the stones. They also act as a great vantage point for birds to perch on, whilst their nooks and crannies provide shelter for insects and small mammals to hide, nest and hibernate.

Your Local Stone Supply

If you’re looking to spruce up your garden and have been inspired by either of these features, then you should choose to source your stones from William Thompson & Son.

Serving Glasgow and the surrounding area, we supply a range of natural stone products, including gabion stone, armour stone and more - all of which are sourced in an efficient and eco-friendly manner.

Get in touch with us today for more information about our products and services.