Firing up enthusiasm for wildlife in winter
Does rewilding mean unkempt or can I have a tidier garden? Would it be at the expense of habitat for wildlife? Apparently not as much as you might think, as wildlife takes what it finds whether you can provide a little or a lot. Tidy gardens can contain a wide variety of nectar bearing flowers and plants, water features, and protection in the form of mulches.
It is well known how to attract wildlife by providing nectar and food sources, water and sanctuary places to roost, nest or hibernate.
After some neglect over the past five years, my garden needs a makeover. I welcome a variety of wildlife but if I don’t take charge there may be a problem for the human inhabitants with undergrowth and overgrowth burgeoning from being left to its own devices.
Winter makes some of those resources all the more important. Shelter in the form of fallen leaves, hedge bases, log piles and bug hotels are all important if we have a particularly cold winter. So we need to be mindful when we use a garden fork or light a bonfire that we consider what might be underneath - frogs, toads, hedgehogs, dormice. We can alter how we do things to be mindful of keeping things safe for them by checking first. Raking rather than forking, dismantling fires before lighting or lighting fires from one side to provide an escape route on the other.
Hedgehogs and dormice will go into hibernation in October and November only coming out of hibernation before spring if they are in danger. Other animals such as bats, squirrels and badgers will spend more time asleep and come out less often.
So how’s your garden looking for supporting wildlife this winter? Is your pond free from leaf mould? Have you left some seed heads and berries for the birds, stalks and leaf mould for insects to overwinter in, open compost heaps for a variety of mammals and amphibians to shelter under, water - which is kept ice free for drinking and bathing?
Do what you can but remember to check before you light that bonfire this weekend that your good intentions don’t go up in smoke.
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