With Spring now upon us, it is an important time for wild animals everywhere. Some wild animals will be coming out of hibernation, and therefore - they will be looking for food. Whilst also, Spring is a time when most wild animals throughout the Spring, will be giving birth to their young: Spring is a time for many of our wild animals to give birth to their young. Therefore, animals will be looking for both shelter, and food for their newborns. You can help them with both: shelter and food.
Our gardens can act like mini-habitats for wild animals. They act as places where wild animals come into the our gardens looking for food, and even looking for shelter. By providing wild animals with food, water and shelter - you will be helping animals get through one of their most important seasons for them.
Spring is one of the most important seasons for our garden wildlife, because some animals will be coming out of hibernation; while most animals will be starting families and looking after their young. If you want to help your garden wildlife, then you can do so by following some of these tips ahead:
Provide Garden Wildlife With Food
Providing garden wildlife with food is one of the best ways that you can help your garden wildlife. There are many different types of food which is specially made for garden wildlife, which you can provide your garden wildlife with.
. This includes. Food made specifically for garden birds.
. Food made specifically for Hedgehogs.
. And, food made specifically for Foxes and Badgers.
All of these foods listed above, are specially made for the animals in mind. If you are putting food out for Hedgehogs, for example, you should avoid putting out bread for them - as bread is not good for Hedgehogs. Another thing you should avoid giving Hedgehogs, is milk - milk is also bad for Hedgehogs, as Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant, therefore providing them with milk is not good for them.
2. Plant A Wildlife Friendly Garden
Another way that you can provide food for garden wildlife: is to plant a wildlife friendly garden. By having a wildlife friendly garden, such as - by planting shrubs, plants, flowers and even trees - this can act as a source of food for wild animals who come into your garden; it also acts as a source of shelter for many different type of wild animals in your garden - such as insects, mammals and birds. Creating a wildlife friendly garden is a great way to help wild animals this Spring.
3. Have A Source Of Water
All animals need water to survive. Therefore, providing a source of water for your wildlife in the garden, can help animals a lot. There are several ways that you can give animals a source of water in your garden. These includes: providing birds a birdbath, providing a small dish of water for animals such as Hedgehogs and Foxes, and, building a pond, which helps many different types of wild animals - including animals such as Frogs and Toads.
If you are providing animals a pond in the garden, then make sure that it has a way that small animals can get out of the pond (if they fall in it).
Making your pond shallow at the outside, and having a ramp, can give small animals a way out of the pond, if they happen to fall in.
4. Avoid Using Chemicals and Pesticides
Another way that you can help wild animals in your garden, is by not using chemicals or pesticides in the garden. Chemicals and pesticides can be really harmful for all types of wild animals - from insects, to birds and Hedgehogs - all of these types of animals can be poisoned if you use harmful chemicals in the garden.
For example, slug repellent can poison Hedgehogs, as Hedgehogs eat slugs, if you spray slugs with slug repellent, then you could end up poisoning Hedgehogs which come into your garden to eat them.Try and be eco-friendly when it comes to your garden. Not only does being eco-friendly help prevent wildlife being poisoned in the garden, it also helps the environment - as you wonât be using harmful chemicals that can affect the wider environment.
5. Provide Easy Access For Your Wildlife
One more way that you can help wild animals in your garden, is by providing easy access for wildlife in your garden. One of the ways that you can do this, is providing what is known as a âHedgehog Highwayâ. A Hedgehog Highway helps Hedgehogs enter your garden. It is a small hole at the bottom of your fence where Hedgehogs can go back and forth easily.
One of the main problems for Hedgehogs now, is that they have trouble accessing gardens in the UK. By having trouble accessing gardens, Hedgehogs find it difficult to find food and shelter, they even find it difficult to survive, because there is not easy access between gardens these days. Therefore, by providing Hedgehogs with a Hedgehog Highway, you can help them overcome the problem of not having easy access to your garden.
Conclusion
All of these five things can help your garden wildlife. Providing them a mini-habitat which gives them access to: food, shelter, water, access and an eco-friendly environment. It will also be beneficial for you too, as you will get to see many beautiful animals come into your garden.
Itâs a great way to add some character and life to your garden!