Garden wildlife could all do with a few Christmas pressies too
Birds, hedgehogs and insects could all do with Christmas goodies too. shares her top picks.
You may have done all your Christmas shopping for friends and relatives, but what about the wildlife visitors to your garden?
Birds, hedgehogs and insects could all use a festive treat of their own— so splash out on a gift which will see your garden wildlife through the winter and beyond. Here are 10 ideas.
Your feathered friends will feast on this. You can make your own or choose a readymade variety like that produced by The Bird Bakery.
Bird wreaths can be handmade from scrumptious seeds and nuts and decorated with festive pine cones and frosted faux greenery.
Brighten up every robin’s life with a ceramic bird feeder. These can be bought in craftshops and look as pretty as they are useful.
The colourful feeders can be hung on your outdoor Christmas tree or on shrub branches. You can fill it with seeds, suet pellets, mealworms or even high-energy sprinkles, and it should give the birds some festive cheer while you’re tucking into your turkey.
Check out the Bee-r Barrel Bee Habitat (suttons.co.uk). While your bees will have already bedded down for winter, you can still invest in their future with this quirky bee-r barrel. Hang it in the garden and it should fill up with baby bees during the summer months, with new adult bees emerging the following spring. It’s a good way of attracting solitary bees, which are great pollinators, to the garden.
Hang a suet soman on a tree outside. you can make your own or choose an option such as the one by CJ Wildlife (birdfood.co.uk). While we’re opening the chocolates, the birds will be feasting on this high-calorie nutritious mix — a perfect stocking-filler.
Insects are a vital element in the garden, and you can help them survive winter with this insect hotel, a safe haven in the great outdoors. Hang it anywhere that’s sunny and protected from rain. It’ll encourage natural pest control and hopefully better pollination of your plants in the years to come. Children will also be fascinated by seeing the little creatures as they nest and brood.
Your resident hedgehogs should now be hibernating, but a care pack, such as the Wildlife World Comprehensive Hedgehog Care Pack(squiresgardencentres.co.uk) will treat them to food and shelter in the coming year It features a hedgehog habitat made of rattan brushwood, designed to be predator-proof, as well as a tray of food and a handy hedgehog field guide so you can learn more.
Yes, squirrels can be a nuisance, digging up bulbs and feasting on the food you’ve left out for the birds — but instead of working against them, work with them.
Giving them their own dedicated feeder, with easy access to grub, will distract them from raiding bird feeders (wooden squirrel feeder, CJ Wildlife; birdfood.co.uk).
They may have a bit of a spooky image but bats actually eat many nuisance bugs, such as mosquitoes and midges (the common pipistrelle, can eat up to 2000 mosquitoes a night!), so welcome them into your garden with a bat box.
Hang it on a wall or on a tree trunk, hopefully out of the reach of predators and close to vegetation, where they’ll find insects to eat.
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