1. With 45% of participants reporting having a pond, it seems that advice about the importance of garden ponds is taking effect. However, the findings indicate that take-up could be improved in Scotland.
2. The distribution of garden rock and stone piles seems to reflect the underlying geology of the UK, with much lower uptake in southern England and particularly Essex. Rockeries can be important habitat for invertebrates and reptiles, as well as shelter for small mammals and amphibians, so people who do not already naturally have rocks in their garden could consider creating a rockery habitat.
3. Although the uptake of garden log piles was reasonably high, the findings indicate that as many as 40% of gardens do not have a log pile. This is an easy habitat to create, which can support a huge diversity of wildlife, and could easily be installed in almost every kind of garden.
4. Gardens in central England had lower uptake of wild areas, leaf piles and long grass, so this is an area where people could consider creating some of these habitats. We find that lawns comprise approximately half of the total area of people’s gardens, yet only 30% of people are leaving grass to grow long, which is a very simple and easy measure to improve the wildlife value of gardens. Only 42% of people reported leaving leaf piles; autumn is the perfect time of year to create this valuable invertebrate habitat.
5. The results suggest that climbing plants are more prevalent in gardens in the south compared to northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. This might be a result of the general distribution of climbing plants, such as Ivy, but could be worth addressing given their value in providing shelter, breeding locations and food for birds in particular.
6. The prevalence of flower beds, flowers in pots and nectar-bearing plants in gardens is high throughout the UK. These have the potential to be valuable resources for pollinators, and further conversations about which are the best nectar and pollen bearing plants and flowers for different species could be advantageous.
7. There is an obvious bias towards providing boxes and food for birds compared to other forms of wildlife. For example, the uptake of bird nest boxes was high compared to bat boxes and other 'homes for wildlife'. Though there was a reasonable uptake of bee and bug hotels, this was mainly in southern and eastern areas, suggesting that these provisioned resources could be something for people in other areas to consider installing.
8. Hedgehog feeding and Hedgehog houses are in less than 20% of gardens. With Hedgehog numbers in severe decline, and the potential importance of gardens as a habitat for this species, it could be especially rewarding for more people to consider providing garden resources to support Hedgehogs. It is obviously important, however, to be aware of good practice and education.

A total of 221,881 missions were completed (excluding incomplete and duplicate records), of which 118,664 were ‘Beyond the Backdoor’. An average of 786 households participated in ‘Beyond the Backdoor’ per UK county / unitary authority (UA), ranging from 2 in Isles of Scilly to 6,342 in Greater London. Further, although there is some obviously variation in the distribution of Gardenwatch participants, there are no gaps in coverage, and as such we can confidently map the spatial distribution of garden habitats, resources and wildlife.

The large majority of sites participating in Gardenwatch were private gardens (94.3%), with each of the other site types described making up less than 2% of the total Beyond the Backdoor dataset. Although proportionally small, there are still reasonable numbers of communal gardens, balconies and allotments represented and, therefore, future research with a narrower focus on these particular garden types is possible.

Surveyed gardens were well distributed along a spectrum of sizes and urban contexts. Garden composition was also highly variable, with a median of 20% coverage by hard surfaces and 50% by lawn. The majority of participants reported being able to see 3–10 or 11–100 trees beyond their site’s boundary, suggesting that many of the sites have a good degree of connectivity to the wider landscape.

Soil invertebrates, including earthworms, are keystone species in the natural environment. Not only do they help to keep ecosystems healthy, they are also an essential part of the diet of many birds and mammals. The aim of Worm Detective was estimate how abundant this vital food source is in different garden habitats.

Across the UK, 8,849 gardens participated in the Worm Detective mission, counting a total of 340,791 invertebrates, with ants, worms and woodlice comprising 70% of all individuals recorded. Worms were the group most frequently encountered, occurring in 86% of surveyed gardens.

Of the soil invertebrates counted, ants showed a clear difference between northern and southern parts of the UK, being recorded in a higher percentage of gardens in the south. Previous research shows that ants are found in warmer areas, and they are thought likely to be positively impacted by warming, with many species projected to expand their range within the UK in response to climate change.

Gardens have a vital role to play in sustaining bird populations by providing the resources they need to breed and feed. The aim of Bird Detective was to record bird behaviour in gardens (specifically feeding, nesting, sheltering or using water) in order to estimate the causes of garden use in different habitat contexts.

Across the UK, 55,479 gardens participated in the Bird Detective mission, and the most widespread bird was the Blackbird, being seen in 95% of gardens.

A new finding from the Bird Detective mission is the percentage of gardens recording key bird behaviours, comparisons which could be used in future to investigate how gardens are important for different species.

The aim of Mammal Detective was to quantify the frequency of garden use by different species (groups) of mammal, in order to better understand the extent to which mammals use gardens and which resources are most important to their survival.

Across the UK, 33,566 gardens participated in the Mammal Detective mission.