One of the largest investigations into UK earthworms has revealed how we can all support the vital work of these creatures.

With help from thousands of community scientists across the country, researchers have found that worms prefer gardens with a mixture of vegetable beds, shrubs and lawn.

Making our gardens earthworm friendly could help urban spaces become more resilient.

Between 2016 and 2018, people living across the UK took part in Earthworm Watch, a community science project aiming to understand life beneath our feet.

The results are now in, revealing that earthworm-friendly practices, like having a mixture of habitats in back gardens, helps boost the diversity of the worms living there.

In turn, these worms can help to bury carbon and improve the drainage of soils, enabling our towns and cities to adapt to floods and other extreme weather.