The autumnal time of year is the time of year when your garden may well become home for the hedgehogs and other wildlife, so we must help to provide them with sufficient warmth, safety, and food to see out the cold winter ahead.

You may feel like ripping up all those tired plants and raking the grass of all the fallen leaves, but these areas can provide warmth and shelter to insects and small animals as well as providing an area for hibernation during the winter months.

Butterflies this time of year enter the dormant stage and butterflies such as the peacock butterfly may be found still on the walls of your house. Heating can confuse and wake butterflies, therefore it is a good idea if you find them in your home, to carefully move them to an outbuilding. If they wake too early they will die.

If you wish to sweep your lawn of the fallen leaves, gather them into a pile and leave them in an area of your garden for the hedgehogs and other wildlife to shelter.

Keeping your bird feeder topped up at this time of year is also beneficial to the birds. During the coming months as the temperature drops, the natural berries in hedges die off, so birds will start to emerge to your bird feeder to gain energy and fat for the winter months ahead.

Clearing out any nesting boxes you have and cleaning them with boiling water will help kill parasites. Ensure they are firmly attached and repair any parts they may need repairing.

Toads like to shelter under piles of bricks whereas frogs are more likely found in piles of leaves during colder months.

Ladybirds gather in large numbers on dead plants in sheltered parts of gardens. So what may appears to be a scruffy garden will in fact be the perfect haven for wildlife over the coming winter months.