Helping your garden wildlife
Post categories: In depth
| 18:10 UK time, Monday, 25 May 2009
We've got some suggestions for easy ways to make your garden a haven for wildlife - and yourself.
But this is also your opporunity to add your tips. What works in your garden? What doesn't? We'd love to hear your experiences and dilemmas, so please share your questions and answers below.
There are 15 million gardens in the UK covering an area bigger than all our nature reserves put together. Your garden can be a fantastic place for wildlife - your own personal place for getting close to nature and an oasis for the birds and animals who share it with you.
There are hundreds of websites out there with loads of information about how to make your garden more friendly for wildlife. Some of the best include The Wildlife Trusts' Wild About Gardens, the RSPB's Wildlife Garden and the and the BBC's very own Breathing Places.
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Don't think you need to spend a fortune on flashy bird feeders or bug accommodation or indeed spend hours building things, wildlife gardening can be as simple as leaving areas a bit untidy, allowing a patch of lawn to grow longer or leaving seed heads on plants. Perfect for the lazy amongst us.
Those with more energy, some DIY leanings and a bit of time and ingenuity can knock up bat boxes, bee nests and bird tables. It needn't take a lot of time or space, just doing one thing can make a real difference for wildlife in your garden.
BBC Breathing Places is a great place to start. It's split into quick (make a woodpile, plant daisies for hoverflies etc), simple (collect rain water, make a bee home etc) and adventurous (make a bog garden or a meadow etc) things to try. So however much time or energy you have there'll be something there for you.
The Wildlife Trusts also have a section on creating a wildlife garden which contains guides on snail and slug [PDF] control and how to attract bumblebees [PDF].
But enough of what we think, over to you:
- Share your wildlife gardening pictures on the Breathing Places Flickr Group
- Share your tips, experiences and dilemmas below. Is your garden already a haven for wildlife? We'd all love to know about it!
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~30~RS~)
Comments
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Hi I just wondered if anybody knew about how to get rid of Aphids in your garden we seem to be the only garden in my area with plants and have swarms of them on everything!
I have heard of buying lacewing larvae and ladybird larvae but is this safe?
Hev x
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Hi a female Song Thrush built a nest between the trellis and window pane of our garden shed. We set up a camera from the inside of the shed which had a perfect view of the nest. After about a week of building she finally laid 5 eggs. The male visited the nest often and perched on the edge of the nest (not the eggs) whilst Mrs flew off presumably to feed etc. On the 8th day this routine was followed again but this time she didn't return and Mr flew off and never came back. The poor eggs had been abandonded! We recorded all this action. What could possibly have happened. Do you think she knew that perhaps the eggs weren't fertilized. We still have 4 of the eggs. Needless to say we had become quite attached to our little feathery family and now feel quite upset. Is this usual for Song Thrush's
Caz
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Help having just moved to a house with a lovely wild area, supposedly garden, that had hedgehogs, sloworms, toads, occasionally newts and all manner of other creatures to a house with a concrete garden that gets full sun most of the day, new husband hates gardening, what can i plant in tubs that will attract wildlife
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Here in Bembridge, Isle of Wight, literally thousands of painted lady butterflies arrrived yesterday presumably driven up with the weather that came from France. In my garden they are feeding on chives, thyme and sage flowers and squadrons of them are zooming everywhere. Elsewhere, they are particularly feeding on valerian. There have been very few native butterflies so far this year - just a few whites and speckled woods so these visitors are very welcome.
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Re tonight's encouragement to grow lupins and delphiniums - no word about the slugs and snails that will devour them long before more welcome insects get a look in - and therefore no warning against the use of slug pellets. A recent BBC gardening programme (sorry, can't remember which one) did come down against slug pellets and actually showed a hedgehog that had eaten a slug/snail that had eaten a pellet - the suffering animal looked more dead than alive. Use of slug pellets by neighbours here has, I am sure, been responsible for the complete absence of the songthrush from our area for some 15 years.
There are many ways of discouraging slugs and snails (I use beer/lager traps - at least they die happy or if a bird gets one it only gets a bit tipsy), but it seems the average gardener is content to use revolting slug pellets - after all, they are on sale by the shelf-full everywhere. I don't believe any slug pellet is 'safe' - if it will kill a slug/snail, it will kill or seriously harm the creature that feeds on that slug/snail.
One of the best services Springwatch can do for urban and suburban wildlife will be to 'come out' anti slug pellet. I feel a bit like David trying to slay Goliath in this respect (powerful chemical companies are involved) but, in the name of pity, we must start somewhere - please.
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RE: sweetcheekshev
Does anyone know where to buy lacewing or ladybird larvae?
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Both gardens front and back are small but I've managed to get a pond in both. A sunken corner bath from the tip, sprayed black and covered over in a cross pattern - 2 plastic electric cable holders to form a sort of dome. This stops me falling in by mistake! Also 30 starlings feeding yesterday on an expanding, wooden, recycled, clothes dryer in the back garden. It's our feeding station and has attracted lots of assorted birds right infront of the kitchen window and dead cheap to make! Had fun videoing all the activity too....regards Helen
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Just signed in to this site. What does reactively moderated mean? Anyway, I like the new guy with Kate. They seem to be hitting it off. And he seems to know his bird stuff. I work in Dundee, on the backshift, and walk home through the 'posh' bit at 10 P.M., from Ninewells (our local hospital). The wildlife is excellent. Urban foxes, and loads of wandering oystercatchers and owls. Not to mention lost geese, and wee brown birds. Going to Islay for a holiday in August. Any tips?
Billy
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To the people asking about Lacewing and Ladybirds here is a great site that i use for everything you need to control pests naturally.
://www.greengardener.co.uk/.You can buy youre Lacewings and Ladybirds here.
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Help - I have many birds coming to my garden to feed I have put various feeders and baths to encourage them but I have a problem a pair of magpies have nested close by and have assumed territorial rights in my garden and attack and chase away any other birds that dare to come and feed any suggestions as to what I can do to prevent the other birds from being chased away.
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We live in Ruislip Middx and have just taken a picture of the largest stag beetle ever. Would like to post the picture for you all to see but dont know how, any suggestions
Jackie from Ruislip Middx.
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I am, like so many people keen to invite wildlife into our garden. We have hedgehogs every year, numerous birds and wildlife centered around a small pond.We also have a bat that we see regularly above our garden sweeping down, to collect bugs I suppose.
This sounds great I know, but what is worrying me is that we have a fox who regularly comes to our garden and it turned up last night and I think it had a large cub with it. The cub made a lot of noise and I am worried, we live on housing estate in the countryside, but i know what people can be like with foxes, 'Wild animals bringing disease and killing pets' I don't want to stop it coming into the garden really, my family love seeing it. We were overjoyed by the cub last night. I haven't even mentioned the Bat to my neighbours, the reaction 'is uugh a Bat!'
Should I be worried
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We live at the end of a village, close to the countryside. We have been fortunate to witness a barn owl the last four days taking food to a nest in a hole in a tree we can see from our bedroom window. We actually saw the barn owl fly past 5 times last night from our living room window between 8 and 9pm while we were waching spring watch. This is a positive indication that barn owls are increasing and coming to live again in our villages.
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Re comment 11 above, I too have the same question, although my birds seem fairly able to gang up on the two magpies! Should we still be putting feed out for the birds in spring - I have conflicting information. Also does aloowing the magpies to get their fill keep them from raiding the other birds' nests? Grateful for any help. I would also like to know how I can encourage the hedgehog I saw some few weeks ago to come back and take up residence...Thank you
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We have literally dozens of small bumblebees feeding on large clumps of the giant allium, nectoroscordium siculum. This is definitely the most visited plant in our garden.
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My husband and I have just replaced a 2 station bird feeder with a more complex 4 station bird feeder with water bath and dried food tray. three of the new feeders are anti-squirrel cage type. Birds, which flocked by their dozens to the original ones, are reluctant to try the new ones. We have left one of the old seed feeders on the new system which they seem to come to in favour of the others. Is this usual and is there anything we can do to intice them back. We are worried that we may have frightened them off completely with this new contraption. Lindsay from Worcester Park, Surrey.
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I just want to share my experience in 100% support of Chris' comments last night about encouraging wildlife in your garden, however small. I live in a very built-up area, in a small flat near a main road, although my flat is in a quiet close with no through traffic. I don't have an enclosed garden; I have a very small piece of garden outside my lounge window at the front of the flat which overlooks a parking area. I have a long-standing history of severe depression (my thoughts are with Bill) and am unable to work at present; I've always loved wildlife and gardening and this is the only thing that gives me any kind of pleasure at the moment. It's very theraputic. I've cultivated my little garden carefully, and also have lots of plants in pots. We are fortunate enough to have a good deal of open spaces and trees in this area and there are a lot of birds around so I decided to start putting food out a few months ago. I started with just oats on the ground to see what would come, and soon had several birds appearing regularly. I added a small inexpensive feeding station right near my window, and also put out food on the garden under a pyracantha bush so the birds can feed undisturbed and the food stays dry. From just those few birds I now have robins, blackbirds, bluetits and great tits, collared doves, and whole flocks of house sparrows and starlings - they are bringing their young now and the other day there were upwards of 20-30 starlings and the same number of sparrows feeding! There are also goldfinches around, they have investigated the feed so I'm putting out seed they like to encourage them. I've made a birdbath out of a shallow plastic container which I've put in the garden and surrounded with stones from the garden to make a lovely bathing area. The birds go crazy for it! I've planted thistles and other plants (which I took from rough ground nearby)in any spare spaces to encourage bees and insects to come. My little space is now buzzing with life, and it gives both me and them great delight. It makes me feel so good to think I'm helping our wildlife. I even had a Bengalese Finch which must have escaped from an aviary land outside my door because of the food, so I now have an extra little friend to care for! I want to add my voice to yours and say, have a go; it doesn't have to cost a lot and it's a win/win situation for all concerned! Love the programme; so entertaining and informative.
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My garden in some places is quite overgrown which is how i like it and i have all sorts visit it on a daily basis. I have got 3 bird tables on the go as well as peanuts put in bowls in the trees for the squirrels. You have stated that the starling and sparrow are on the decline and yet I have loads of them, the starlings are nesting under my roof tiles and they are very noisy. I have seen Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long Tail Tits, Blackbirds, Robins, Collared Doves, Chaffinch, Bramlings, Thrush, Woodpecker, Wood Pidgeons and of course the Magpie and crows which I would prefer if they were not there, last but not least the Good Old Fox and the Badgers that I feed every night and one small water rat (I hope)
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I'm not sure if this is the right place to give info that might be useful for the programme, but here goes:
On the programme just now you said you're going to look at bees next week. The Horniman museum in Forest Hill, London, has a new installation which is a beehive in a transparent case so the activity can be seen. They also have a very experienced beekeeper. www.horniman.ac.uk or a moderator can get back to me for contact details.
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We grow comfrey in our garden. It grows very fast and produces loads of purple, bell-shaped flowers which the bees absolutely love. We have bumble bees, solitary bees and now honey bees on it all the time, even when it's raining. There are so many that side of the garden actually hums! When the comfrey dies back it goes into the compost bin or is dug straight in, because comfrey is a 'green compost'.
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another place to buy ladybirds and all sorts of goodies for the birds and garden is www.wigglywigglers.co.uk
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Hello to all those that hate aphids, I have a suggestion that has worked for me and the proof is that 7 Blue Tits fleged safely and full of food just yesterday from a birdbox in my front porch. Put bird feeders near plants that get attacked. This has an encouraging effect on those bids (Tit family, Sparrow and Dunnock to name a few) that find the natural food stuffs just as tasty as the snacks we all kindly place out for them. Each day we witness the birds crawling over the Rasberries (last year it was the Hawthorn) and devouring plenty of aphids. So good are they at removing them that we have little problem this year. Adding plants that provide berries, or fruit (Crab Apple) look stunning in the garden and attract a plethora of wildlife. I am lucky to have a resident hedgehog, bats, a pond full of newts and frogs and the ocassional basking slow-worm on the bug hotel I have built in the bottom of the garden. this along with logs don't look unsightly, are a good talking point at BBQs and I have managed to encourage many of my friends to do the same. I like to think my garden as a mini-zoo and people do envy it when I tell them all that goes on. I do, as a hobby, give advice on wildlife gardening so if you have a Q feel free to ask.
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Here's a tip for hedgehog feeding! I leave a couple plates of cat biscuits out each night and have had problems with neighbours cats eating them and also rainfall soaking them! I bought a couple of little plastic 'igloos' from the pet shop (I think they're ferret or chinchilla homes) and use them to cover the plates. Cats can't get in but the hogs can and it shields them from the rain while they're eating!
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Can anyone help me? I have two bumble bee nests in my garden, I am quite happy to have them there as I can spend many a quiet hour watching them coming and going. Unfortunately I live on a mobile home park and my neighbours are not of the same opinion. All they want to do is get the bees destroyed!!! Is there any legislation that may help me in my quest to defend the bees and thier homes?
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A couple of years ago i had a blackbird family nest just out side my lounge window. The bush where she had made her nest was bald at the back and facing into the room. We had fantastic views from the the very start with the eggs and right up to when the four baby birds left the nest. The parents would take on cats, flying right in front and really taking huge risks on the ground to lead them away. She took on a magpie who tried to raid the nest as if she herself was an eagle in size. It made me so aware of how hard it is to raise young and we do all we can to provide food, water and shelter to make there lives and little easier.
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One of the best early flowering plants for bees in our garden seems to be a variety of what we call 'false nettle'. It grows in large clumps and has a profusion of white flowers, the bees absolutely adore it......it does tend to self-seed and spread itself about, but needs no particular looking after. We leave some of the plants that spring up under the fig tree from the bird food that is spilt from the feeders, and we leave some stinging nettles and thistles to grow amongst the rosemary and bay bushes, which attract all types of wildlife. We leave the bird feeders out all year, and have found that the turtle doves and starlings love the cooked rice that is left over from the dogs food!
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hi i have loads of slugs in my garden, mostly in the chickens feed box!!
they are in this box all year round, maybe a little less of them in the winter, the chickens eat them when they can. the slgs leave there eggs
in the feed box!!! and i hate them!!
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I am becoming constantly frustrated at the insensitive CAT owners, both where I live and when I visit my Mother, some distance from me.
Can I suggest that, all responsible cat owners take time to realise that this time of the year, as chicks are leaving their nests, their cats are restricted from going out, it will not harm them to stay in for a while.
I have three cats and will only let them out while being supervised at this time of the year.
Even cats with elasticated collars and bells on are not going to frighten an inexperienced young chick.
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We live in the country,and for the second year running have small honey bees in an airbrick near our roof of our house.What should we do?we do not want to upset them as we have heard that they are in decline?
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This is the third spring I've put a nesting box in my garden and it's the third time wasps have taken up residence. What do I need to do to persuade them to go somwewhere else? I've managed to save this latest nest box by spraying it with insecticide which has destroyed the nest and killed the wasps but how do I make it safe for the birds next spring? Hopefully you'll be able to give me some advice. Many thanks, Sheila Pritchard. N.Wales.
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Just seen an unusual sight whlist sunbathing in the garden - a small bumble bee attempting to carry, and then finally flying away with, a small slug! I thought only wasps did this?
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Hi We have alot of solitary bees here in ripon North Yorkshire they are busy filling all our bug boxes. we have been making them out of peices of wood with holes drilled in them. They seem to love them!! they are alos using the type with bamboo in. We are increasin the umber we have in our garden to help them.
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Re Entry (25)
Sounds like your neighbours may fear that they will get into their houses and try to nest like wasps do. Maybe they just need a bit of educating. As for legislation for protection, the best place to go for information is the bumble bee conservation trust, (www.bumblebeeconservation.org) They have a great web site dedicated to bee conservation you may find very helpful. Good luck in defending the bees, you're very lucky to have nests.
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Any ideas? A 'mumbling' bumble bee decided to take up residence in my compost bin over the colder months, and has extended his stay indefinitely. I have grass cuttings etc and would really like to compost them. Can I continue to compost, or should I leave the bumble bee to enjoy his new five-star luxurious home?
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Hi
We had a pair of woodpeckers nesting in our woodland who frequently visited our bird feeders in the garden. Sadly on Saturday evening the male flew into our conservatory window and died. We knew where they nested and when we checked, we could hear that they had chicks. The female is still actively feeding them on her own but we're worried that this is a big task for her and wondered if there was anything we could do to help her.
We already put out some bread spread with lard and covered in seeds and nuts & some fat (suet) balls which she's been visiting frequently - should we try to get some mealworms or is there anything else we can do? Thanks.
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I live in a terraced house in Oxford we only have a small garden, but what we have we use to encourage wildlife. The main thing we have is an apple tree (which we planted 12yrs ago) this gives somewhere for birds to feel safe in & to check out what is on offer in the feeders.
I have areas in my garden which have native wild flowers like primrose, blubells, honey suckle & foxgloves. But I also have ares for just bedding plants. What does attract the bees at this time of year is a flowering sage. Later on there is a buddleia (which one year attracted a huming bird hawk moth) & lavender.
We also have a small pond which has no fish but lots of frogs. I think this is one of the reasons we don't suffer to bad with slugs & snails. I am also of a mind that if something gets badly eaten by slugs I won't grow it again, a few chewed leaves don't matter!
We attract lots of different birds the main trick to this is varied feed sources. We have seed feeders filled with sunflower kernals, meadow bird feed & niger seed. We put table bird seed on the bird table & ground feeder. We put robin feed on another ground feeder. We feed suet pellets, fat balls (mainly in the winter) & live & dried mealworms. We use a large plant pot water bowl for a water bath which gets emptied every dry day by the starlings as they bath.
They need regular feeding, don't stop, some times of the year they do seem to not feed as much so just decreses the amount - they will be back.
Persevere don't give up with the feeders striaght away, last year in the summer I started putting out niger seed to attract golfinches, it wasn't untill late autumn I got my first visiter. I was rewarded in the winter with up to 20 gold finches visiting. Now in the summer there is only 6 regulars but last week they brought along two babies.
We have attracted over the past five years more unusall garden birds such as Reed buntings, Yellow hammer, Jay's, spotted woodpecker & more common birds such as Starlings (at the moment about 40 including very noisy babies) sparrows, robins, doves, wood pigeons, chafinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, great tit, blue tit, coal tit, magpie, jackdaws, fleeting visits of long tail tits, sparrow hawk (ambushing the little birds). All this in a little garden about 40 x 15 foot.
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i have put up feeders high and far from cover with fat balls, seeds and nuts, there are a fair few trees just beyond my garden but the only visitor to them was a little blue tit which was only interested in the the fat balls, it flitered in and out for about two weeks then two days ago it just stopped coming, where have all the birds gone??
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anyone interested in all things watery in the garden might like to take the survey at www.wwt.org.uk/wimby . There's even a big prize for the best garden pond for wildlife
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I have changed the type of flowers and plants I grow to encourage insect into the garden. I have have been able to grow a birch and an ash tree, which encourages lots of insects. The ash is always later to come to leaf so it provides quite a lot of light into the garden in early spring. I try to grow plants which are British natives, there are lots of garden variations. However try to choose the single flower varieties, as it makes it more difficult for bees to get the nectar. Bees also cannot see red. I also try to provide early flowering plants such as hellebores, winter honey suckle and viburnum. The latter flowers from November to February and blue tits love to hunt about in it eating the insects, in early spring.
I also grow buddleia. The buddleia has to be pruned in February/March. However I have two bushes and prune one and leave the other. The idea being that the flowering time is lengthened providing nectar for butterflies and bees for a longer time. There is no reason why one bush couldn't be half pruned providing the same effect.
I grow single petunias which are pollinated by moths. The blue ones are the most strongly scented. Night scented stock and nicotiana are also liked by moths.
I grow nettles and nasturtiums for caterpillar food, nettles for peacocks and small tortoiseshells and nasturtiums for large and small whites. Don't plant the variegated ones as the butterflies don't like them. This goes for nettles and nasturtiums.
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hi, we have discovered recently a small perfectly round cacoon like thing, hanging from the top of our toy shed, we dont have a clue what it is and can anybody help.
it is about 5cm in diameter and has a small hole, there is no webs near by and as yet nothing has com across that we havent seen before aka the usual spiders. we have pictures and are willing to send them if anybody has an idea wot it is.
thanx from the confused childminders and kids.
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Our honeybees are still very busy in the airbrick in our house.Should we clear it out in the winter?
Also our son has slightly larger bees nesting behind his shed in his small garden,how can he get them removed as he has a small child that plays in the garden?
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My son has an addictive enthusiasm for nature. He has taken over part of the garden. His Christmas present was a Rowan tree for the birds to start off his nature garden. Great activity on Christmas day - digging the hole around cooking the turkey. He dug his own pond and bog garden out earlier this year. Straight away, nature moved in in the form of a huge great diving beetle which could clearly be seen as there was nothing but water in there. He researchs, writes books, draws and watches. At 8, he says he wants to hold on to all of this and his biggest worry is pollution. He cares! We are all loving watching Springwatch - thank you.
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We have had Tree Sparows this year the first in two years, one pair so far, but we have so many birds I don't know whether to list them all, so highlights, this spring...
Tree sparrows one pair
near by within sight of the garden. one Red kite
plenty of Deer
Blue tits, lots
Coal tits nesting in the stone wall by the back door, have Fledged.
At least four other pairs of Coal tits
Goldfinches half a dozen pairs
House sparrows, to numerous to mention two pairs at least have definately fledged
Greater Spotted Woodpecker, just the one
Great tits at least four pairs
Dunock, one pair
Tree creeper, one regular
Down on Greenfinches, normally six or more pairs, just the odd visitors this season.
Crows/Woodpigeons and Doves.
All N/E Scotland
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Sorry forgot the Starlings and the Yellow hammers, four pairs and the Painted Ladys, not too many but more than usual, sorry no cuckoo's but that is not unusal here. Also none urban environ. Hope that helps S/W you know my e-mail if you need further details. Going off line for a while.
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I have a young bird in my garden but not sure what it is. It is dark brown on its back with a lighter coloured/rusty speckled chest, a bit larger than a Blackbird. I am feeding it regularly and it now comes to me when I call it - am I doing the right thing here or should I just let nature take care of it?
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If you have any mysterios visitors in your garden then but down a sheet of foil, around the area they visit, and cover it in a thin powder of flour, make sure it doesn't rain and the litle foot prints will appear in the morning! simple
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I have a little corner of a field and I would like to have there a wild flowers. Does anyone know where I could get the seeds? There are some beautiful but very small butterflies already but I would like to see their number growing and perhaps getting bigger ones starting to come in as well. As well as the bees!
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hi i have been encouraging birds into the garden many are tits of various kinds and finchies wrens and even the odd kestrel now and again but i have come against a mighty wall my neighbour has moved here from a city and has complained to the local authority saying i have encouraged a rat infestation which has only manifested its self in her garden oddly enough and now the local authority is threatening me with action if i continue to feed and encourage the birds in my garden i have even been told to remove the bird box can they do this.
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Hi
Last year we had wrens nesting in a bird box but their not any more can anyone tell me why?
Love bluetitdaze.
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Good Morning
This tip seems to be passed on - my mum to me via several others.
Nyjer seeds attract Gold Finches. Neither of us had really seen Gold Finches in our gardens. We bought a feeder plus the seeds. I hung mine on a branch under an old apple tree and within 3 days a very nervous Gold Finch appeared. Now a few weeks and several more bags of Nyjer seeds later, we have at least a dozen Gold Finches fighting for the prime perches. They are now no longer nervous. I can watch them with my binoculars from the kitchen window. Also there are a few long tailed tits waiting on the washing line to have a turn.
Wonderful - good luck to others who try. The only down side is that the seeds are rather expensive and I don't know how many thistle plants I will have all over the garden.
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What else can I do to encourage the pair of goldfinches in my garden? They keep coming in every so often to the lavender near the fron gate.
Linda H
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When is the best time to cut the native hedge.
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Our garden is pretty wild as we have not had the time to trim back this year. We have a large blackbird nest in the tree nearest the house (actually on our rear elevation) and both birds have been very active. They have become quite tame too and will watch us from just a few yards without taking fright. Today the baby blue tits fledged and came to visit for feeding. I could have touched one without moving anything other than my arm. They have no fear of us. The starling family have visited both front anf back gardens for baths and food. They love the fat balls and we have put out about 20 this week alone! I think there 8 starlings in the group and about 6 blue tits. The great tits are always early feeders as is our greater spotted woodpecker family. Heard one at 4.30 this morning on our front peanut hopper! It's under our bedroom window and their sound is so distinctive. It was lovely to witness the growing up of a young male from immature plumage and slightly scrawny to full feathered large handsome male bird. The female also visits but they never come together. There are nuthatches around and they visit every day. The nests are in our neighbouring copses and hedgerows this year and we have not seen fledglings as in previous years. Our dumnnock and house sparrows are active and so are our robins, chaffinches and greenfinches. Long tailed tits visited earlier in the year and so did pied wagtail, yellowhammers and gold finces. Pair of collared doves are resident on our roof and so are the wood pigeons. Heard a cuckoo earlier in the week but he/she is not a regular as in previous years. Only 2nd one heard all year. Dave, our back garden squirrel, is still nicking nuts from time to time but is not keen on our dogs! The birds don't seem to mind either the dogs or Dave! Bought a robin nest box today and will site tomorrow. Last year our robin built a nest in a motorbike parked in our garden!! somewhere near the carburetta I think. Raised her young too and no one bothered her. Must try to monitor our nighttime vistors but not easy as we both still work full time. There are deer around and badgers too plus foxes, rabbits and rats. Saw hares in Suffolk a couple of weekends ago. Never see them in Sussex, at least not where we live. Had forgotten how big they are.
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I have finally managed to get bumblebees to nest in my garden. I have tried the nest boxes you can buy. However they have decided to nest in a couple of old car tyres filled with soil. I am not sure what species they are yet as the workers are very small and do not hang around long enough for me to get a clear view.
I am hoping this year will be better for 'our' grasshoppers as the last two summers have been terrible for them. They have virtually disappeared.
However the slowworm numbers are getting better year on year. I have had to empty 4 compost bins this year and the slowworm count is up to 18.
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I had the delight of seeing a wild badger and fox crossing a road late one evening in Berkshire. We were travelling down an unlit country lane when we saw a fox dart across the road, closely followed by a badger.
Perhaps they were both playing a game of chicken?
What an honour to see them.
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I live in a very urban habitat, surrounded by little box houses and noisey children.
To my amazement I have had the pleasure of seeing a wide variety of wildlife in my garden. I do not have a private garden, more a small square front garden with two large trees and a bush at the end. I've planted many potted plants including lavender to encourage bees and have even seen young robins swoop down to feed from the plants near my front door.
We have resident robins, blue and great tits, chaffinches and even song thrushes who all jostle for space in the nearby trees.
A neighbourhood fox visits on occassion and we have a resident young hedgehog who often sets off our permiter garden lights.
I would like to plant nestboxes in the trees at the foot of my garden and would appreciate anybody's advice on where to buy them and which varieties are more successful?
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We have quite a few young sparrows in our garden, my husband thinks with all the rain and cold wind last night and today the young will not dry out so die from cold. Can you say if this is true.
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we have been feedind the wild life in our garden for many yar,but this year we have had at least 12 differant species of birds eating ,we have had a pair of olfinches nest in my magnoia tee about 6 or 7 foot away from my kitchen window ,but unfortnately we were at work when they fledged ,they have now built a nest in the bay ree at the bottom of garden,we watched the blue tits feeding their young in the tree there were 8 in all i hope we have the same success next year an can anyone tell me where we can get a wrens nesting box from
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we have been feeding the wild life in our garden for many years,but this year we have had at least 12 differant species of birds eating ,we have had a pair of golfinches nest in my magnolia tree about 6 or 7 foot away from my kitchen window ,but unfortnately we were at work when they fledged ,they have now built a nest in the bay tree at the bottom of garden,we watched the blue tits feeding their young in the tree ,there were 8 in all i hope we have the same success next year ,can can anyone tell me where we can get a wrens nesting box from .
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This is for entry 31 with unwanted wasps. We had the problem in Canada, and discovered an inexpensive paper thing shaped like a wasps' nest that in spring you hang somewhere outside. No wasp will then start another nest nearby. Did the trick! So we brought them over with us and have used one each summer successfully. Destroying their nests is so unnecessary; they are useful garden predators and deserve protection as much as any other species. These wasp nest imitations are, I believe, now available in the UK and very effective.
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Help!! I read how we shouldn't put peanuts out when birds are nesting because nestlings/fledglings should only be fed live (digestible) foods. Then I read the opposite! PULLEEZE would Chris or Simon clear this up once and for all. I have a half dozen fledged bluetits pigging out on peanuts day after day!
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I want to attract some stoats to my garden what should I do .
Please,Please,Please reply
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we have a duck just laid 9 eggs in a metal planter 6 ft up on the house wall. How will she feed them when they hatch, and could we leave any suitable food for her? Help ! 7.45 pm 11th June 2009
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I have discovered a nest of bumble bees in a hole in the ground under a plant! Is this normal for them to use a small hole in the ground? I feel quite good about discovering them? Can anyone enlighten me please?
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1pm 12th June, Moidhaig wrote the last message, sorry, new to this and forgot to put my name in, maybe I should join the bees lol!
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Well out in my Garden it is mostly stones and slabs but we have a tree and my daughter loves to watch birds so we got a bird table with hangers so you can hang the bird feeders and we done that and my daughter loves buying food for the birds,and the most birds we have counted on the feeder is about 18 birds and that is a mixture of blue tits and tree sparrows and what she does is from her window she can see all the birds feeding and she sits there for hours watching them !
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This Year for some strange reason we have 100's of bubble bees, not that I'm complaining but I feel the need to buy a bee nest now.
Dave
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If you like jackdaws put eggs out because they love 'em
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i have quite big feeders in my garden and it seems that evreyday i need to fill them back up again because the food i have been giving the birds they seem to love it they are eating it evrey day but its mostly house sparrows, and the house sparrows seem to come at a sertan time altogether, but the blue tits just keep to the nut's.
rebecca
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Yesterday we saw a pair of Red Kites over our garden in Bracknell. Has anybody else seen them and are they nesting here?
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Well, I always used to take good care of my garden by planting new flowers or grooming the bushes, but it was when I added a couple of garden buildings that I really started seeing some change.
I had some birds build a nest right on my new shed and trust me when I say this - it feels great!
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Hi
Just wondered is there a way that i can supply a nesting home for birds without spending lots of money on bird boxes? I am not very good at DIY so i dont make very good ones!
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