frog

A Frog at Last: What survey data tells us about England's growing enthusiasm for wildlife gardening

Salma Craig, July 2026

I have a lot of emotion invested in the frog who has been hanging out in our teeny weeny pond this summer. For many years my “wildlife” pond has been in quotation marks, despite the artfully arranged rotting logs behind it. Yes, there were happy pond plants and many mini beasts, but no amphibians. The shame. “Make the pond, and the frogs will come” the advice tends to go. Well not in my garden.

So when my teenage children heard the frog screaming one evening recently I feared the worst and rushed out in horror as the local cat chased it across the grass until it dramatically dived to safety. An online search later revealed that screaming really is something frogs do when under threat, probably to distract the attacker while they hop it... Anyway, our family stood down, though we are keeping a close eye on the adorable Poppy who, like most cats, is slightly less adorable when her mind is fixated on something alive.

Am I alone in loving my frog? I am a bit biased - in a different lifetime I did some postgraduate research into insect ecology… But personal enthusiasm is one thing; I wondered whether the national picture showed the same trend. The Adults People and Nature Survey for England, run by Natural England since 2020, provides a useful test of that question.

Using the survey’s weighted results, roughly one in three adults with access to an outdoor space said they enjoyed the wildlife in their garden (around 35%), while a similar proportion said they were interested in encouraging more wildlife there. A larger proportion reported taking practical steps like planting pollinator-friendly plants, providing food for wildlife, and creating log piles or other habitats. The survey applies statistical weights so that the findings better reflect the population of England rather than simply the raw sample of respondents.

An interesting pattern is that these wildlife-friendly gardening behaviours have continued to edge upwards over the past five years - for example the proportion planting pollinator-friendly plants has increased - even while environmental concerns have had to compete with issues like the cost of living and immigration. This suggests that wildlife gardening may be becoming part of mainstream gardening culture rather than only an activity for people who actively identify as environmentalists.

At the same time, evidence clearly points to the real biodiversity benefits of encouraging wildlife in gardens. A quite ordinary medium-sized garden can contain thousands of species (Owen, 2026), and as intensive land use has reduced species diversity elsewhere, gardens can play an increasingly important role (Wildlife Gardening Forum).

For now, on a summer’s evening, I’m back to seeing a frog’s little head bobbing above the waterline while I sip a Campari soda. It gives me a huge sense of wellbeing to see it out of the corner of my eye while the scent of the honeysuckle fills the air and the hoverflies, grasshoppers and chafers get on with doing their summer evening thing. Whether the survey would classify that as a wellbeing intervention, a biodiversity gain or simply a very satisfied gardener, I couldn’t say. I just know that after years of quotation-mark “wildlife”, my pond finally has a frog.