Wildlife
06 January 2022
Helping Winter Wildlife in Your Garden
The winter months can often be tough for wildlife, especially when the days are shorter and there is a lack of food around. But there are many things that we can do to give them a helping hand. Read how you can make a difference below!
Feed the birds
If you don’t have one already, a bird feeder is a great accessory to help with feeding the birds in winter. Fill it with peanuts, high-calorie suet or millet. You can pick up bags of bird feed at your local garden centre.
If you’re after a cheaper alternative, utilise your kitchen. You’ll find bread, fruit, cooked potatoes and cheese, all of which birds love. Stay clear of any salty foods as it can be harmful to birds.
Banish the frost
As the temperature drops, sources of fresh water become harder to find. Regularly fill up your bird baths, as well as placing fresh water at ground level for other visitors to your garden. Aquatic Planters are a great way to care for those thirsty creatures, as well as making a stunning feature in your garden.
If your pond freezes over, don’t hit or crack the ice. This can cause shockwaves through the water and distress the wildlife. Alternatively, use a saucepan of hot water and place on the ice, until an area has melted.
Be kind to the hedgehogs
Many people are unaware that giving hedgehogs bread and milk can often make them poorly. Instead, put out some cat or dog food (no fish flavours) and some fresh water.
Hedgehogs usually hibernate during the colder months, so their fat reserve is very important. Aid them by providing suitable food (see above) and a comfortable place to sleep.
Allow your garden to get a bit untidy
Try and resist the urge to prune hedges and clean your borders to allow for wildlife to nest. Many of your garden visitors will shelter in the overgrown foliage or take comfort in leaf piles.
Check your compost heaps
A composter is a great way to dispose of your kitchen and garden waste. But be sure to always check your compost heaps or large piles of garden debris before burning or placing into garden bins. Hedgehogs (and other small animals) will often make a home here to keep themselves warm.
Strictly Necessary
These cookies are required for our website to operate and include items such as whether or not to display this pop-up box or your session when logging in to the website. These cookies cannot be disabled.
Performance
We use 3rd party services such as Google Analytics to measure the performance of our website. This helps us tailor the site content to our visitors needs.
Functional
From time to time, we may use cookies to store key pieces of information to make our site easier for you to use. Examples of this are remembering selected form options to speed up future uses of them. These cookies are not necessary for the site to work, but may enhance the browsing experience.
Targeting
We may use advertising services that include tracking beacons to allow us to target our visitors with specific adverts on other platforms such as search or social media. These cookies are not required but may improve the services we offer and promote.
