It’s a great time to start thinking about your garden for the next year and how you will create your wildlife-friendly garden. Wildlife makes their home in our garden in many different ways, it doesn’t matter how much space you have we can all do our bit to ensure our garden visitors are happy in their wild homes.
Birds need water for drinking and bathing, it is particularly importing in winter months when water is frozen and summer months when water may be hard to come by. Most small birds need to drink twice a day to replace the lost water through respiration and in their droppings. Water can be easily accessible to small birds from shallow ponds and streams.
Water they bath in is just as important, especially during the colder months. They need to keep their feathers in good condition and bathing is necessary for feather maintenance.
Clean your birdbaths and change the water regularly this helps prevent birds catching diseases. Also make sure you scrub the sides and basin bottom to remove algae on other dirt.
It’s important to stop water sources like bird baths and ponds from freezing as natural water sources will be frozen during winter month.
Here are a few tips to prevent your bird bath from freezing:
– A light ball floating in the water will be moved by even a gentle breeze and will keep a small amount of water ice-free.
– Pour on hot water to melt the ice.
– Line the bath with a polythene sheet that you can lift out along with the ice.
Autumn & Winter Feeding:
Put our food and water regularly
Twice a day if possible, morning & early afternoon
High fat foods during colder periods.
Never allow uneaten feed to accumulate
Try to keep to a feeding routine so they visit regularly.
Spring & Summer Feeding:
Birds require high protein feed.
Avoid using peanuts during this time. Harmful to nestlings.
Sunflower seeds, pinhead oatmeal, soaked sultanas, raisins and currants, mealworms, waxworms, , good seed mixtures without peanuts are great this time of year.
5 Wild Tips.
We all need to encourage wildlife into our garden, and it is surprisingly easy to do this. Here are a few tips to help you make your garden wildlife friendly.
Check for sheltering and hibernating animals such as hedgehogs, toads and frogs before doing any garden work.
If you have a pond, make sure there is an area for wildlife to drink, enter and exit the water. Do not hit or crack the ice as this can send shockwaves through the water which can harm the wildlife.
When turning compost heaps be careful of wildlife as these areas are nice and warm for them during winter months.
Provide shallow dish of water to help wildlife that need to drink.
Create an insect or bug hotel and place in a sheltered area. This is a great activity for kids to get involved in.
Helping our spikey friends
Hedgehogs will be in the middle of their winter slumber, so let piles of leaves and logs sit undisturbed, so hedgehogs and other creatures can enjoy their winter rest.
Provide food and drink for your spikey friends throughout the year. Start your own garden project and create your own hedgehog café that’s open all year round.
Make your garden safe for hedgehogs to roam as they can easily fall into grids and get tangled in garden netting. Ensure all drains are covered and netting is hight enough for hedgehogs to wander underneath.
Hedgehogs can roam up to 2 miles in one night. Make sure you create a hedgehog highway so they can entre and exit your garden with ease. Making a small 13cm hole in fencing can make it easy for they to move from garden to garden.
Why not encourage your neighbours to do the same? How far can you Hedgehog highway go?
Finally, please make sure you protect your spikey friend from curious pets, simply turn a light on before letting out pet this will warn the hedgehogs and keep them safe.
Phillis Says
Never use or add any chemicals, it may stop their feather from being waterproof or poison the birds. Please use non-toxic products when cleaning wildlife spaces.
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