How We Are Looking After Our Garden Wildlife This Winter
Our garden is home to a variety of wildlife. Since we moved in we have seen the numbers increase year upon year. We have regular visits from a number of squirrels, magpies, pigeons, blue tits, beautiful robins, thrushes, too many sparrows to mention, an occasional hedgehog and most recently an owl.
We are huge wildlife fans in our house and I have no shame admitting that I can often be found enjoying my morning cup of tea sat watching the squirrels and birds potter around eating their breakfast. They are so fun to watch especially the squirrels who will dangle and reach out to pinch the bird’s food as well as their own.
I always smile when the robins are dancing around in the garden, they hop from spot to spot and tweet their sweet little tweet to each other. We’ve only seen them once so far this winter but I’m sure they will be back more often especially now they know there is food available.
We’ve always looked after our visitors and I honestly think this is why they always return to our garden. We leave nuts out for the squirrels, have a number of hanging bird feeders and a hanging bird table too. We also leave crushed dog and cat biscuits when we know the hedgehogs are about too. If you have hedgehog visitors remember that they can’t have milk so leave a bowl of clean cold water out for them instead. If you are planning to feed them make sure you put down cat or dog food but ensure that it doesn’t contain fish and if you are wanting to feed them insects they should only be put out as a treat and not as a full food source.
Next year we plan to add a couple of birdhouses so that the birds who visit might stay and hatch their eggs. Last year there were baby pigeons in a tree behind our fence and we loved watching them grow bigger until they were big enough to leave the nest.
If you have birds who visit your garden and want to help feed them this winter take a look at the infographic below from Trago. It is full of information regarding what is best to feed the most popular types of birdlife in British gardens and the ways in which is best to feed them – some prefer to eat from the ground whilst others are happy with a hanging feeder.
Do you get visitors in your garden? If so I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
*This is a collaborative post*
