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A red admiral butterfly, with dark wings with bright orange bands, and white spots in the leading corner. Its feeding on the white flowers of an orange blossom tree

Red admiral © Nick Upton/2020VISION

Garden wildlife

Get to know your wild neighbours

Even a small garden can be home to an impressive variety of wildlife, from tiny beetles to some of our most familiar and beloved birds. Some wildlife experts have recorded over 2,500 species in their own gardens! On this page you can get to know some of the birds, butterflies, beetles and other animals you're most likely to spot.

Robin

Robin (c) Jon Hawkins

Birds
A garden bumblebee, fat, fuzzy and black with three golden bands and a white tail, visits a purple-blue flower

Garden bumblebee © Chris Gomersall/2020VISION

Bees and wasps
A small tortoiseshell resting on red flowers. It's a bright orange and brown butterfly, with a black and off-white pattern along the leading edge of the wings.

Small tortoiseshell © Vaughn Matthews

Butterflies
A 7-spot ladybird clambers between the bright flue flowers of a forget-me-not. The ladybird has red wing cases decorated with seven black spots

7-spot ladybird © Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography

Beetles
A brimstone moth resting on blue petals. It's a bright yellow moth with a brown leading edge to the wing

Brimstone moth © Vaughn Matthews

Moths
A marmalade hoverfly feeding on an ivy flower in a garden, with a house in the background. The hoverfly is small, slender and yellow with black lines across the abdomen

Marmalade hoverfly © Nick Upton/2020VISION

Flies
Two hedgehogs standing next to each other in a garden at night, lit by artificial light.

Hedgehogs © Jon Hawkins – Surrey Hills Photography

Mammals
A garden orb weaver spider in the centre of its web. Its a brown spider, with a white cross marking on the top of its abdomen

Garden spider © Tom Hibbert

Spiders