Help your gardens wildlife to survive winter
Winter can be miserable for us humans. It can be cold, wet, miserable but for our wildlife it can mean a fight for survival. Here's what you can do to help out, and it can make a big difference.
How can I protect the wildlife in my garden?
There are many simple things that each and every one of us can do that will have a big impact on helping our local wildlife survive winter. Fortunately so far winter has proven to be mild but many of our little friends face hard challenges over the coming months.
Here a just a few tips to help you get started.
How can I help the birds that visit my garden over winter?
That's easy: feed them! Whilst it's true that many birds have come up with the ingenious idea of simply emigrating to warmer climates during winter there's a lot of species that stay behind. A little known fact discovered whilst writing this article was that some birds, such as Robins, Blackbirds, Redwings, actually migrate to the British Isles to escape the snows and ice of Scandinavia and northern Europe.
Buying bird feed needn't be expensive either, and you can buy cheap bird feeders from many shops. Wilkinsons do a very good and cheap range as well as a good range of bird feed. When choosing a bird feed try to avoid those which are heavily made up of grains. To survive winter birds need a diet that is high fat and energy so they will be on the look out for nuts, sunflower hearts and seeds. To really help the birds you should also have a peanut feeder out for them, they will love you for it.
Remember to hang your bird feeder as high as possible so the local cat population can't get at them, but also remember that some birds like to feed from the ground.
You can also save money by making your own fat balls, these are very simple and easy. All you need is bird seed and a fatty substance to bind it all together such as lard which can be bought very cheaply. Don't use butter as dairy products are bad for birds.
Top tips!
If you have a squirrel population running loose in your garden, and don't want them to eat everything in sight, add chillies to your bird feed. Amazingly birds can't taste the heat in chillies, but Squirrels can!
You can also feed some of your leftover foods to birds, they particularly like rice.
How does leaving water out help wildlife in my garden?
Ironically despite the characteristic cold and wet conditions that plague the British winter, a lot of our wildlife struggle to find fresh water to drink. Remember that once freezing temperatures set in many of our wildlife's water sources become frozen.
If you have a pond, make sure it doesn't freeze over as these are a great source for local wildlife to drink from. A good tip to help stop it freezing over is to place a small floating ball in your pond to help prevent the formation of ice sheets.
Can a compost heap help protect my gardens wildlife?
It sure can, these provide a great shelter. Many animals such as toads and slow worms will like to take refuge in your lovely warm compost pit. If you leave a pile of leaves, rocks and logs in your garden it will attract many creatures such as Ladybirds, toads , slow worms and even a hedgehog or two.
