Travel
Homes for birds & bats
Dozens of bird and bat boxes installed at nine TransPennine Express stations to provide new habitats for wildlife.
24 March 2025
For many of us, new year resolutions can often veer towards ourselves – commitments to improve wellbeing, strengthen will power, kick bad habits and cultivate good ones.
For 2026, RSPB suggests we cast the net wider to consider some really simple, achievable steps to action for the benefit of our natural world, too.
Here are the charity’s top five recommendations to give nature a boost in 2026.
The colder months of the year can be a real challenge – not only to birds, but to many different types of garden wildlife.
Burning extra energy just to keep warm, birds will be in particular need of high-calorie food – but at this time of year they face both a shortage of food sources and reduced daylight hours in which to forage or hunt.
If you haven’t already, could you put a nest box up in your outside space? As well as creating a potential space for the next nesting season, birds are also known to use nesting boxes for warmth and shelter during cold snaps.
If you already own a nest box, now is a good time to clean it out ready for the next nesting season.
Gardens can be a major mood-booster for us, particularly during the colder months when bold colours and scents are a welcome tonic to the grey palette of winter.
With a few thoughtful additions, gardens can also become a vital source of food for overwintering birds.
Berry-bearing bushes and trees can be particularly effective – the bright berries of both holly and hawthorn will draw grateful blackbirds, robins, redwings and fieldfares to feed, while the fruit of the ivy would be welcomed by smaller species like robins and blackcaps.
If you have piles of fallen leaves around your outdoor space after autumn, don’t rush to clear these away – simply rake up under bushes and trees, as these can provide a protective layer from frost and habitat for insect species.
Similarly, if you encouraged wildflowers last summer, don’t feel obliged to trim and tidy away the dead seedheads. These can actually be a fantastic winter source of food for birds such as siskins, goldfinches and sparrows.
If you don’t already have wildflowers growing in your outside space, why not celebrate the end of winter and sow seeds in March to cultivate a pollinator-friendly meadow?
If you have access to a garden, when the weather is a little warmer and the ground easier to dig, why not consider digging a wildlife pond for 2026? Although this might sound like a daunting task, a pond doesn’t need to be especially big in order to have huge value to your local wildlife.
Even an old washing-up bowl can become an aquatic haven. You can add introduce plants into it come springtime.
Ponds are really helpful not only to birds during winter (whose feathers need to be cleaned regularly in order to maintain their waterproofing and insulating properties), but from spring onwards they’re also important for aquatic species like toads, frogs, newts and dragonflies who will be seeking out this kind of habitat.
January 23-25 sees the return of RSPB’s annual flagship event, the Big Garden Birdwatch. Every year since 1979, hundreds of thousands of people have contributed to the world’s biggest garden wildlife survey and connected with the wildness just outside our homes.
Last year, nearly 600,000 people took part, counting 9 million birds.
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