Wildlife Gardening Award

A graphic of a wildlife friendly garden with bird feeders, bird houses and plenty of wildflowers.

Go wild for wildlife in your garden this year and apply for our Wildlife Gardening Award!

Go wild for wildlife in your garden this year and apply for our new-look Wildlife Gardening Award!

Since launching our award in March 2023, we’ve been astounded by the calibre of applications and have rewarded over 500 gardens for their incredible efforts to make their spaces more wildlife friendly.

This year we’d love to see even more people taking part and even more actions being carried out for wildlife, so we have created 3 new awards - bronze, silver and gold - to inspire and reward you for doing your bit to make Yorkshire wilder!

Whether you have a large garden or a small balcony, your outside space can play a vital role in creating stepping stones and corridors, providing connectivity for wildlife through urban areas, linking towns and villages with green spaces and countryside.

With an estimated 24 million gardens in the UK, the way we care for our outdoor space can make a BIG difference to the natural world.

We’d love to receive applications from different types and sizes of garden, whether you look after a garden at your home, in a community space, school, workplace, or care home.

Apply here!

Qualifying gardens will receive a certificate and, for a small fee, a plaque that can be proudly displayed in your garden!

The gold version of the Wildlife Gardening Award

How can I make my garden a haven for wildlife?

Gardening for wildlife doesn’t need to be complicated; neither does it mean abandoning your secateurs and surrendering to a bramble invasion! There are many simple ways of inviting wildlife in, some of which can be found in our action pages.

Learn more

“Whether they’re big or small, gardens are amazing places where we can interact with wildlife, watching a buzzing bee or listening to the cheerful singing of birds. By making small changes to how we look after our gardens we can play an important role in improving and maintaining habitats for all kinds of wildlife, from ponds to drink, leaving seed heads to eat and fallen leaves for birds and frogs to rummage for slugs. Help your garden come alive and you might find it has the same effect on you.”

Jack Wallington
author of A Greener Life, living near Hebden Bridge

Visit Jack's website

Photo taken from behind the flowerbed border where the borders have been left to grow with wild plants around the lawn.

Wild garden - Sara Holden

Wildflowers in a wild garden. They are tall and colourful with red white and pink flower heads and a clear blue sky in the background

Pollinating wildflowers (c) Kippax Wildlife Corridor

A wildlife garden with pink flowers in the forefront of the picture, a garden bench to the right and a wig wam for plants to grow up. There are trees and bushes int he background.

Wildlife Garden - Charlene Thomas

A beautiful garden pond surrounded by plants and lined with white pebbles around the edge. There are tall reed plants and lily pads on the water. There are other plants in a bed behind and in pots on decking in someone's back yard.

Wildlife garden pond - David Craven

A big back garden in amongst tall trees left to grow wild during no mow may. There is a children's slide which is also green going into the grass

Amy Baylisss - Wild Garden

A fenced off area showing a log pile covered in leaves and ivy, creating a perfect habitat for wildlife.

Sleeper Path Community Garden - New Earswick, York

Child with frog on his hand with his armoutreached in front, knelt down over small garden pond with his left hand resting on the floor next to a dipping pond net.

An area in the garden showing a ‘tangle’ (a wild corner where brambles and nettles have been left to thrive)

A ‘tangle’ (a wild corner where brambles and nettles have been left to thrive) (c) Jo R

Assortment of colourful flowers in a row in a bed on an allotment. There is a glass greenhouse in the background and 2 people tending to the flowers.

Open Country Allotment Group

close up shot of a wildlife pond with a frog in it

Kippax Wildlife Corridor

A wild garden full of mature colourful plants and flowers.

Rachel Field

Wild garden with winding path running through it. Lots of mature plants and trees line the path on either side.

Bedford Fields Wildlife Garden

Urban Yarden - (C) Robin

Bee Brick (Kippax Wildlife Corridor) - (C) Victoria Goodall

Stumpery - (C) Andy Steele

Grow with Case - (C) Sally Myers

Wildlife Gardening in Action

To help inspire your wildlife gardening even further, here are some case studies which shine a light on fabulous wildlife friendly gardens around Yorkshire.

A man and woman in an allotment, the man is smiling at the camera holding a tub of raspberries

Case study

How do I enter?

To qualify for our Bronze Wildlife Gardening Award, you must have at least 12 of the features below and at least 2 from each category (food, shelter, water, management and connectivity).

To qualify for Silver, you must have at least 24 of the features below and at least 3 from each category.

To qualify for Gold, you must have at least 36 of the features below and at least 4 from each category.

A few of these actions are mandatory because we believe these essential elements should feature in every wildlife-friendly space.

You will be asked to submit two photos showing your garden.

Apply here

Are you experiencing technical difficulties or need a hand filling out our form? Please contact supporter.services@ywt.org.uk for support.