Why a little water goes a long way

By July, many British gardens are running dry. Lawns go biscuit-brown, borders wilt, and the small pools of water that birds, hedgehogs and insects rely on simply disappear. A garden without water is a hard place to raise a family, whether you are a blue tit with four hungry chicks or a hedgehog foraging by night.

The good news is that helping wildlife through a heatwave takes very little effort. You do not need a pond or a hosepipe ban exemption. You need a shallow dish, a bit of timing, and a willingness to leave some insects alone. Do those three things and your garden will quietly become a summer refuge.

Water at the right time of day

If you water at noon, you lose most of it to evaporation before it ever reaches a root. Early morning is best: the soil is cool, the water soaks down, and plants have a full day's moisture ahead of them. Early evening is the next best window, giving roots the night to drink before the sun returns.

There is a wildlife bonus too. Damp soil and wet foliage at dusk bring out earthworms, slugs and beetles, which in turn feed blackbirds, robins and hedgehogs after dark. Watering in the middle of a hot afternoon does the opposite: droplets on leaves act like tiny magnifying glasses, and the soil surface simply bakes.

• Water before 9am or after 7pm wherever possible.
• Give borders a thorough soak twice a week rather than a light sprinkle daily.
• Water the soil, not the leaves, to cut down on evaporation and disease.
• Leave the lawn alone. Brown grass is dormant, not dead, and it greens up after rain.

Set out shallow dishes for birds

Birds need water for drinking and for bathing, and bathing is not a luxury. It keeps feathers in good condition, which matters enormously for flight and insulation. A bird bath in full sun will quickly become too warm and too shallow, so choose a spot with dappled shade and a clear view of the sky.

Depth is the key detail. Most garden birds want water no deeper than about 5cm, with a gently sloping side so they can wade in safely. If your dish is deeper, add a few large stones or a piece of brick to create a shallow shelf. A saucer from a large plant pot, sunk slightly into a border, works beautifully.

• Refresh water daily in hot weather; it heats up and evaporates fast.
• Scrub the dish weekly with hot water and a stiff brush, then rinse well.
• Never add washing-up liquid, bleach or algaecide to drinking water.
• Place it near a shrub for cover, but not where a cat can crouch unseen.

Hedgehogs and ground-feeding birds such as dunnocks prefer a low dish at ground level. If you have a pond, always provide a gently sloping edge, a stone ramp or a piece of log so that anything that falls in can climb out.

Don't forget the smaller visitors

Bees, hoverflies and butterflies all need water, especially in prolonged heat. Bees drink from damp soil and shallow edges, but they drown easily in deep water, so a saucer filled with pebbles or marbles and topped up just below the stone line is ideal.

Butterflies often gather at damp patches to take up minerals from wet soil, a behaviour called mud-puddling. A small area of bare earth kept slightly damp near a border will attract them, along with the occasional dragonfly if you are lucky.

Keep the insects coming

The single most valuable thing you can do for garden birds in summer is to leave their food supply alone. Around 95 per cent of a blue tit chick's diet is caterpillars, and a single brood can scoff hundreds a day. Spraying aphids or caterpillars removes exactly what your birds are working so hard to find.

Resist the urge to tidy every corner. Long grass, seed heads, log piles and leaf litter are all insect larders. If you must deal with a pest problem, pick it off by hand, use a strong jet of water, or accept a little damage. A few nibbled leaves are a small price for a garden full of birdsong.

Water smarter, not more

A few habits will stretch every drop further. Mulch borders with bark, compost or grass clippings to lock moisture into the soil. Water the base of plants slowly so it sinks in rather than running off. Fit a water butt to a downpipe and use rainwater in preference to tap water, which is better for acid-loving plants and free of the additives that can build up in soil.

Water in pots is a lifeline for wildlife as well as plants. A shallow saucer beneath a container will catch run-off and give a thirsty bee somewhere safe to land. And if you are going away, ask a neighbour to top up the bird bath as well as the tomatoes. It takes a minute and it can mean the difference between a garden that survives the summer and one that thrives through it.