 |
| Encourage hedgehogs into your garden. Photo: Gibe, Wikipedia |
Hedgehogs
I’m writing this in early April - Hedgehogs are emerging from their winter sleep. There has been a huge decline in hedgehog numbers over the last few decades, driven by loss of habitat, loss of connections between habitats, road traffic and pesticides. Gardens can be good habitat, but a hedgehog needs around 10-20ha of habitat to roam in, so getting between gardens is essential. Make sure your fences have holes near the base to let them move around – a hole the size of a CD case (13cm square) is enough, and will not let any children or dogs through.
Do not use metaldehyde slug pellets, as they leave the dead slugs poisonous to birds and hedgehogs. If you use garden netting (I do when the soft fruit is ripening) then make sure it is checked twice daily, and that it is secured firmly to the ground so hedgehogs do not try to get under it.
If you do hear our prickly friends (they sound like small pigs, of course), then try putting out a small amount of tinned cat food to encourage them to come where you can see them after dusk and maybe photograph them. Do let Cheshire Wildlife Trust or Record (local biological records centre know) – hedgehogs are often not recorded, especially in urban areas.
Growing Food In Wildlife Friendly Ways: Getting Started
My main gardening interest is growing food. I am also lucky enough to have a half-allotment (20 years ago they could be had for the asking). With global climate change escalating, growing even a small amount of your food is good for the planet (no food miles) and for your health (allotment growers stay healthier longer). There is no reason why food-growing cannot be friendly to wildlife, especially on a garden scale. If you are new to food growing, start small: maybe a herb bed in a sunny corner with chives, marjoram, thyme or whatever you like to use in cooking.
Most herbs are good nectar plants when in flower, and the perennial ones are very easy to look after (just a weed and tidy away of dead stems in spring). Also easy to look after are soft and tree fruit, and will yield you far more than you would buy. Some will tolerate light shade e.g. raspberries, gooseberries, red currants. All soft fruits freeze well raw, tree fruits mostly freeze well once cooked. Get stock from a reputable supplier, plant properly, mulch with garden compost and read up about pruning.
Salads and vegetables need a well-lit area and more fertile soil, so choose your spot and spread it well with garden compost. If you don’t have a compost bin, start one! Raise from seed for cheapness, and be prepared to weed and harvest as needed. Easy ones to start with, which give a good yield, include broad beans, tomatoes, lettuce, dwarf beans (known to the allotment world as French beans). Take the chance to plant unusual varieties. And of course – no pesticides, no peat!
Dr Hilary Ash
No comments:
Post a Comment