KEEN Cerne Abbas gardener Adrian Coombe found that his hard work paid off when his garden won the medium Garden category of Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Wildlife-Friendly Garden award.

Adrian, who has lived in the village for 12 years and is a member of the wildlife trust, has made several alterations to his garden to attract birds, insects and animals.

He said: “A garden without wildlife would be a pretty lonely place and it is nice to see creatures here. I am looking at a beautiful bullfinch as we speak.”

As a way of bringing all forms of fauna into his garden, Adrian has built dry-stone walls for shelter, has dug a couple of ponds, cultivated a thistle patch and has installed a compost heap and rotten wood pile, which make perfect habitats for all sorts of creatures.

He said: “I work in agriculture and when I’m ploughing up a field I like to bring home any large bits of flint I find to build dry-stone walls that animals can shelter in.

“I also have a couple of ponds, one without fish which is good for wildlife, and I have made their margins so they flow into the surrounding area.

“One of the ponds is also clear of weed to allow the bats to drink from in the evenings, which is an amazing thing to watch.”

Adrian has also placed galvanised steel behind his garden shed for slow-worms to live under, has a thistle patch for goldfinches to feed from and leaves fallen fruit from his plum tree for insects and badgers to enjoy.

But although he loves watching animals enjoying his thoughtfulness, sometimes he does get to see nature ‘red in tooth and claw’.

“I had lots of frogspawn in the ponds this year but the badgers came along one night and ate it all,” he said. “I didn’t know they did that until I read up about it, but I guess it’s all part of nature.”

More than 50 gardens entered the competition and the winners of Dorset and South Somerset’s Wildlife Friendly Garden Competition 2012 were announced at Castle Gardens in Sherborne by TV Gardener Toby Buckland. Now in its third year in Dorset, the competition, run by Dorset Wildlife Trust and sponsored by The Gardens Group, aims to recognise the increasingly important contribution gardeners are making to the conservation of wildlife.