Wildlife Activites
Encourage wildlife to your gardens with these fun activites and help improve their habitats in the process
Hedgehogs
Aside from the act of putting out food, the best way to encourage hedgehogs is to create an environment that sustains their needs. This means creating a place to nest or sleep, and an abundance of natural food, such as insects, for them to eat. One way we encourage insects is by making bug hotels. Bug hotels are very simple to make: on your next woodland/field walk collect materials that can be stacked in layers. You may even find items already in your garden that are perfect for a bug hotel, such as bricks, pots, canes, sticks, straw, or anything that creates a space for them to keep warm or safe. Bees in particular like small holes, which can be replicated in any piece of wood by drilling 5mm+ holes.
How to encourage birds
There are lots of homemade bird feeders you can create with natural materials such as pine cones, orange casings, and logs, or you can use recycled products such as bottles and toilet rolls (These do come with potential hazards so we will talk about the natural alternatives)
Mixing the items: Wildbird seed, dried fruit, Mixed nuts crushed, dried bugs and add peanutbutter to bind. You can then pack into pine cones or fruit peel/shell (removing the soft pulp) or use the peanut butter as a coating and roll your toilet roll over the top of the seeds to form a seedy casing. Using a natural rope/string like sisal would be idea to then hang from trees and shrubs that your birds would feel safe and sheltered in. You can also use bird baths adding shallow dishes for them to bathe in, this ensured they can get out if overly saturated. If you have something you're concerned about depth add a stick or stones so they are able to perch on them and climb out if needed.
How to encourage frogs
How to encourage Butterflies and Bees