3 Ways To Help Wildlife This Winter

Tuesday, 29 October 2019

The clocks have changed, the frosts have arrived and Strictly is well under way. It can only mean one thing – winter is creeping ever closer! And whilst we can snuggle indoors with our central heating and cosy PJs, life’s not quite as comfortable for some of our garden friends. So we have created a blog with 3 ways to help wildlife this winter in your own back garden…

Feed the Birds

If you’re anything like us you will be singing Mary Poppins as you read this! But feeding the birds is an incredibly simple way to help our feathered friends. Pop up a range of bird feeders and you can quickly be feeding them fat balls and various seeds and nuts. You will be rewarded with a display of lots of lovely birds in your garden who will also help keep garden pests at bay. Remember to leave some water out for drinking and bathing too.

Image courtesy of likeaduck

A Home for a Hedgehog

Hedgehogs are brilliant for the garden, munching away on your slugs and snails. Encourage them to stay in your garden by creating a home in a quiet, untouched corner of the garden. You can buy a hedgehog house in your local garden centre or if you are feeling creative you couild build your own with some pieces of wood. Remember to clear out your hedgehog house each year to keep it free from pests (make sure there are no hedgehogs resident at the time of cleaning!) Keeping a corner of your garden a little bit untidy with piles of leaves will encourage hedgehogs into your garden too. ALWAYS check bonfires before lighting them at this time of year too to make sure no hedgehogs have made a home there.

Image courtesy of Timo Newton-Syms

Bat Boxes

Another wonderful wildlife creature you should encourage are bats. They eat squillions of midges every night so they have got to be a firm friend! We love watching our local bats swooping around at dusk giving us an amazing display! Buy or make a bat box but make sure you locate it in a suitable place. It should be a minimum of 10 foot off the ground, higher if possible. It should be in a sunny location, getting at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight every day. Try and shelter the boxes from the wind and ideally locate them close to where they will be feeding, close to hedges and trees.

East Park – bat box
cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Stephen Craven – geograph.org.uk/p/5517504

If you can do at least one, if not all of these three simple jobs this winter your wildlife garden will thrive and these wee creatures will be very thankful.

Vialii