Winter quarters for wildlife (From Smallholder)

Winter quarters for wildlife

7:40am Tuesday 22nd November 2011 in Conservation

Putting out food and water for the birds is essential to help them through the cold months, but in an environmentally friendly garden you must create plenty of places where wildlife can shelter from harsh winds, snow and frost, where those that hibernate can sleep through winter and where small creatures can hunt for food.

When I studied horticulture as a young woman we were told that leaf litter and other debris must be cleaned out from hedge bottoms in autumn to prevent predators hiding there in winter. Now, the opposite advice is to leave litter under hedges so that those small creatures that are the gardener’s friends can live there. This also provides a place where small insect eating birds, such as wrens, can hunt for spiders and other food in cold weather. Thick mulches around fruit bushes and canes serve a similar purpose.

For the full article and images see the December edition of Smallholder.