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YOUR GARDEN THIS MONTH :
NOVEMBER
Winter Wildlife
BY PUTTING OUT ADDITIONAL FOOD , GARDENERS CAN MAKE A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO SUPPORTING WILDLIFE OVER WINTER . IT IS ALSO A GREAT WAY TO WATCH WILDLIFE EVEN IN THE SMALLEST OF GARDENS OR BALCONIES , OFTEN AT VERY CLOSE QUARTERS .
By making some simple additions to your garden to do lists this month , you will help to turn your garden into a wildlife haven , increasing the diversity of creatures that cannot only survive but thrive .
Garden birds , in particular , benefit from feeding year round , but winter is a time to provide foodstuffs with a high fat content to help keep them warm . Feed regularly so that birds will not waste vital energy visiting your garden when there is no food .
Aim to carry out these tasks from late autumn ( or as soon as hard frosts arrive ) until mid-spring .
Helping wildlife :
It is surprisingly easy to do something to help garden wildlife in the lean and cold months of winter . Even if you carry out just a few of the following tasks , it can make a difference .
Helping birds :
• Help birds in winter by placing fat blocks in wire cages . Balls in plastic nets are not recommended as birds such as woodpeckers can get their tongues caught .
• Create your own fat blocks by melting suet into moulds such as coconut shells or logs with holes drilled in .
• Alternate different recipes to entice a range of birds ; peanut cakes for starlings , insect cakes for tits and berry cakes for finches .
• Put out finely chopped bacon rind and grated cheese for small birds such as wrens .
• Although fat is important , do also provide a grain mix or nuts to maintain a balanced diet .
• Sparrows , finches and nuthatches will enjoy prising the seeds out of sunflower heads .
• No-mess mixes are more expensive but the inclusion of de-husked sunflower hearts means there is less waste . Inferior mixes are often padded out with lentils .
• Use wire mesh feeders for peanuts and seed feeders for other seeds . Specially designed feeders are needed for the tiny niger seeds loved by goldfinches .
• Feed placed on a wire mesh held just off the ground , will entice ground-feeding birds such as robins and dunnocks .
• Thrushes and blackbirds favour fruit . Scatter over-ripe apples , raisins and song-bird mixes on the ground for them .
• Consider planting berrying and fruiting trees and shrubs such as Malus , Cotoneaster and Pyracantha to fill gaps .
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