Whatever your outside space – garden, balcony or window box – you can turn it into a haven for nature with a pint-sized pond and a slowworm sunbed

It is easy to feel hopeless about the future of British wildlife. The 2023 State of Nature report found that one in six species are at risk of extinction, with the groups most under threat including plants, birds, amphibians and reptiles, fungi and land mammals. But many of us can do something simple to help: gardening.

“There are 23m gardens in Britain, so we can make a real difference,” says Rob Stoneman from the Wildlife Trusts. Gardens cover a bigger area than all the UK’s nature reserves combined, he says. “If you haven’t got a garden, perhaps you could have a window box, or get involved in a community garden, or apply for an allotment.”

Study identifies 16,825 sites around the world where prioritising conservation would prevent extinction of thousands of unique species

Protecting just 1.2% of the Earth’s surface for nature would be enough to prevent the extinction of the world’s most threatened species, according to a new study.

Analysis published in the journal Frontiers in Science has found that the targeted expansion of protected areas on land would be enough to prevent the loss of thousands of the mammals, birds, amphibians and plants that are closest to disappearing.