Are the creatures that visit and live in your garden friends or foes? How can you discourage the bad and nurture the good? And how does each animal fit into the essential garden ecosystem? You'll find the answers in the verdicts, evidence and treatments presented in this innovative new book. Including more than 50 common garden residents from squirrels to starlings, from ladybirds to leatherjackets, and from frogs to flea beetles it tells you how to encourage the forces for good and explains how best to deter or get rid of (ideally organically) those that bring damage, disease or even death to your precious plants. And vitally, it pieces together the key links in the garden food chain and shows how to maintain nature's delicate balance on your plot. As well as the key gardening information you need, you'll discover here the extraordinary ways in which garden wildlife is adapted for success, how to encourage vital pollinators and how to plan planting and cultivation to pre-empt problems. You'll see how to use pesticides safely if you must, and there are hints and tips on the best ways to deal with cats and dogs, chickens and geese in the garden. So whether you want your garden to be a haven for hedgehogs and honeybees, to have fewer slugs and snails, or to be know all the pros and cons of crows and cabbage white caterpillars, then these are the verdicts you need. Garden Wildlife on Trial is the sequel and companion volume to Ruth Binney's successful Weeds on Trial published in 2019 (ISBN 9781910821275).

Table of Contents:
Introduction 6 Mammals and Other Vertebrates 10 Badgers 12 Deer 14 Foxes 16 Frogs 18 Grey Squirrels 20 Hedgehogs 22 Mice 24 Moles 26 Rabbits 28 Rats 30 Shrews 32 Toads 34 Voles 36 Birds 38 Blackbirds 40 Crows 42 Gulls 44 Herons 46 Jackdaws 48 Magpies 50 Pheasants 52 Pigeons 54 Sparrows 56 Starlings 58 Insects and Other Invertebrates 60 Ants 62 Aphids 64 Asparagus Beetles 66 Box Caterpillars 68 Bumblebees 70 Cabbage White Caterpillars 72 Carrot Flies 74 Codling Moths 76 Cutworms 78 Earthworms 80 Earwigs 82 Eelworms 84 Flea Beetles 86 Ground Beetles 88 Honeybees 90 Hoverflies 92 Lacewings 94 Ladybirds 96 Leaf-cutting Bees 98 Leatherjackets 100 Lily Beetles 102 Millipedes 104 Sawflies 106 Scale Insects 108 Slugs 110 Snails 112 Social Wasps 114 Spiders 116 Thrips or Thunder Flies 118 Vine Weevils 120 Wireworms 122 Woodlice 124 Dealing with Wildlife 126 Good gardening practice 126 Biological controls 129 Domesticated wildlife 130 Pesticides and how to use them 132 Wildlife and the law 136 Plants for wildlife 139 Index 142