Garden wildlife spotter's guide
In Virtual Micro Gardening, wildlife pops up on your plot after the webcam spots a real change in the garden. Claim it within 20 minutes for a free bonus action. Here's every collectible, how rare it is in the game, and a real fact about its wild counterpart in UK gardens.
🐝 Busy bee
The UK has around 270 species of bee, and only one of them is the honeybee. Bumblebees and solitary bees do much of the pollinating in gardens, so leaving a patch of flowers unmown makes a real difference.
🍄 Mushroom patch
Mushrooms are the fruit of fungi that mostly live hidden in the soil, breaking down dead wood and leaves into nutrients plants can use. Never pick and eat wild mushrooms. Some UK species are deadly.
🐌 Garden snail
Snails are gardeners' least favourite visitors, but they're food for thrushes, hedgehogs and slow-worms. They're most active on damp nights, so watch for them after rain.
🍀 Lucky clover
Clover pulls nitrogen from the air and feeds it into the soil, a natural fertiliser. Its flowers are a favourite with bumblebees. Four-leaf clovers really are rare: estimates range from 1 in 5,000 to 1 in 10,000.
🪱 Earthworm find
Earthworms dig tunnels that let air and water into the soil, and they pull dead leaves underground to rot. Charles Darwin spent decades studying them and called them some of the most important animals in history.
🌼 Wildflower bloom
Native wildflowers such as oxeye daisy, knapweed and bird's-foot trefoil feed pollinators through the summer. The UK has lost most of its wildflower meadows since the 1930s.
🐞 Ladybird visit
Ladybirds are aphid hunters: one can eat thousands in its lifetime. The seven-spot is the most familiar UK species, and its bright colours warn birds that it tastes horrible.
🐦 Garden bird
Robins, blackbirds, blue tits and wrens are regular garden visitors. The RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch each January is one of the world's largest wildlife surveys, and anyone can join in.
🌰 Fallen acorn
A single oak tree supports more wildlife than any other native UK tree. Jays bury thousands of acorns each autumn and forget some, which is how new oaks get planted.
🦋 Rare butterfly
Look out for red admirals, peacocks and small tortoiseshells on sunny days. Butterfly numbers are a good sign of a healthy garden, and many species have declined sharply in recent decades.
🦔 Hedgehog visitor
Hedgehogs roam up to 2km a night looking for beetles, worms and caterpillars. They're in serious decline in the UK. A 13cm gap under a fence, called a hedgehog highway, helps them move between gardens.
🌈 Rainbow sighting
You see a rainbow when sunlight shines through raindrops behind you. Each drop splits light into its colours, like a prism. That's why rainbows appear when the sun comes out during a shower.
What the real camera can spot
Separately from the in-game collectibles, the image analysis watches for real movement. When something small moves through the frame, it's logged as a possible bird or small animal in the garden diary. It can't tell a blackbird from a squirrel yet, but it knows something visited. Here's how it works.
Help wildlife where you live
- Leave a corner to grow wild, or mow less often in spring (No Mow May).
- Put out a shallow dish of water with a stone in it, so insects can climb out.
- Plant nectar-rich flowers in a pot or window box. Even a small balcony helps.
- Cut a 13cm hole at the base of your fence for hedgehogs.
- Skip slug pellets and pesticides. They harm the animals that eat pests naturally.
Ready to look after a real garden?
There's no subscription and nothing to pay. It runs in your browser and only takes a few minutes a day. Ages 13+.