Welcome Winter!
The ground crunching beneath our feet and vibrant berries on the trees, yes its certainly here.
As our gardens turn into wonderful winter wonderlands, its important to remember our wildlife. Create habitat and ensure food and water are always available. Right now garden feeders are extremely important, as food in the wild for our birds is becoming scarce. Be sure to put up high energy foods such as peanuts and fat balls are especially good. Here in the shop the full RSPB range is available, and are highly recommended. Winter is a brilliant time for bird watching, as nature lends a hand with a pale and bare back-drop making viewing much easier. Added to this the influx of migratory species such as fieldfare, redwings, waxwings and not forgetting the geese, what more can we ask for?
Its a good time to start planting Bare Rooted trees, and shrubs ready for next year. Its also a great time for any tidying up that may need doing and cutting back those stray branches. This makes perfect habitat materials for all our hibenating species such as hedgehogs, toads and all kinds of insects. Hog-i-tats and Bug Hotels are perfect features and attract and house a variety of animals and invertebrates. We have both here in the Wildlife Garden, I wonder who is residing in ours?
Autumn and Winter are both seasons, to clean out and put up your nest boxes. Birds may use them to roost in over Winter but will also check them out for next Spring too. Dark nights allow a great opportunity to start planning your wildlife gardening for next year Have a look for ways to increase your garden's potential, can you help wildlife even more?
Does your garden hold the essentials-
Create a festive feature this year from natural resources such as twigs , dead leaves and willow stalks. Foody hang-ups are perfect for even smaller gardens. Have a go at these yourself, and feel free to ask us for tips. Water remains very important to our wildlife so check the bird baths don't freeze over completely. Pond life and plants can survive even under ice, but the birds still need water.
Most importantly see all this action yourself! Get out there in your winter warmers and experience all you can of the wildlife extravaganza all around you!!
Tis the season for giving and spreading the cheer, so do step up for nature this year.
As always get in touch if you like our blog and would like to add to it, we always welcome your comments.
We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and look forward to seeing you at RSPB Fairburn Ings soon
Teresa and Louise
Teresa RSPB Volunteer