There’s never been a better time to go wild
Nature has been given a boost recently. Kate Bradbury reveals how to make the most of it
The coronavirus crisis has forced most of us to stay at home. And those of us with gardens are making hay while the sun shines. So, with so much extra time at home, why don’t we all do a bit more for wildlife?
If you’ve been meaning to make a hedgehog house or a bee hotel, dig a pond or plant a wild flower meadow, there’s never been a better time. Get your children involved and teach them and yourself to identify bees and recognise birdsong.
Lie down in the long grass and scan the sky for the first swallows and swifts of the year – relax! Finally, you have time to enjoy wildlife. Nature is amazing. The more of it we can bring to our gardens, the happier we’ll be, and the better we will be able to cope with the lockdown.
WATCH WILDLIFE AS A FAMILY
In the average garden we can expect to see around 30 species of bee, 20 butterflies, 50 moths and 20 species of bird. Normally, most of us are too busy working, cleaning the house or raising children to watch or take notice.
We might even have what we like to call a wildlife garden – but do we actually spend time studying the species that we share our gardens with? Lockdown is the perfect time to get to know your garden wildlife.
Pick a subject – bees, birds, pond life, even compost-heap critters. Arm yourself with an ID guide – websites such as rspb.org.uk, woodlandtrust.org.uk and butterfly-conservation.org are a great resource – and get spotting. Your kids may benefit from being able to play with a magnifying glass or a bug viewer, which allows them to catch and view insects through a magnified lid.
MAKE HABITAT PILES
Remember when compost heaps were just that – a heap of garden waste piled into the corner?
These days we tend to compost waste in dedicated “closed” bins or, worse, pay the council to collect it for us. During lockdown, many councils have suspended green waste collections, which is the perfect opportunity to bring back open compost heaps! Pile waste into the corner of the garden or make log piles at the back of borders. Anything from hedgehogs and amphibians to mice, voles and bumblebees will make a home here.
DIG A POND
A pond is the ultimate wildlife habitat. You can buy pond liner and plants online. Mark out a kidney or circular shape, digging no deeper than 60cm in the centre. Make sure you have gentle sloping sides and plenty of shallow areas, to enable hedgehogs to walk in and out safely. The shallow areas are also where birds bathe and tadpoles congregate – they’re where the fun is. Container ponds, while not as good for wildlife as large, natural ponds, can still have some benefit. Make an old Belfast sink or tin bath leakproof and fill with water and a mix of marginal and floating pond plants. You could have breeding dragonflies by summer.
CAMP IN THE GARDEN
There’s plenty going on in the night garden. Set up a tent with your kids and explore the garden by torchlight. Look out for foxes, hedgehogs and field mice. Shine a torch into your pond to spot newts and other wildlife that become more active at night. Don’t forget to look up – reduced air and light pollution has led to clearer, sparkling night skies, full of stars. Alternatively, if a night under canvas does not appeal, invest in a trail camera to catch the comings and goings of animals. Consider leaving water and food out for hedgehogs – kitten biscuits are ideal – and pop a camera in front of the bowls to see what turns up.
See page 13 for more ideas on family garden camping.
ARE THE BIRDS SINGING MORE LOUDLY?
The lack of noise from traffic and human bustle is filling the air with song. Spring is the noisiest time of year for garden birds, as they defend territories and nest sites. Why not try to identify species by their calls? Start with robin, blackbird and great tit, which have very distinctive calls, and work your way up to other garden species, such as blue tit, wren and goldfinch. Listen to recordings of the songs on rpsb.org.uk.
ENJOY CLEANER AIR
It is thought that pollution weakens pollen grains, making them more likely to split open and release allergic substances that trigger hay fever and asthma attacks, particularly in children. Could the lack of cars on the road during lockdown lead to reduced incidences of hay fever, asthma and allergies this year? Could bees, butter
flies and other insects benefit from cleaner air in our towns and cities?
JOIN A NEIGHBOURLY WHATSAPP
Joining neighbourhood WhatsApp groups is a key element to surviving lockdown. Many of us are offering to go shopping for the elderly and check in on vulnerable neighbours, or lend tools to neighbours embarking on DIY projects with their free time. Why not use these new networks to talk to your neighbours about wildlife gardening, particularly for hedgehogs? A hedgehog hole around 13cm square in your fence or wall on either side of the garden will mean hedgehogs can travel between gardens. A hedgehog box will provide a safe nesting habitat, while a bespoke feeding station will mean that hedgehogs can feed away from larger mammals. I donated wood and lent a jigsaw to a neighbour so she could make a hedgehog box – what could you and your neighbours do?
FEED THE BIRDS
Feeding birds is something we can all do, even if we don’t have a garden. Invest in some sunflower hearts and a window bird feeder and see what turns up – you could attract anything from house sparrows and tits to goldfinches.