Veg plot wildlife

[Sara]

As the GYO team gets stuck into writing the March issue, we can't help but take a sneaky peak at the plot for signs of wildlife. This month many creatures are tucked up and waiting for warmer weather, but we hope you can help us to think ahead and get in the mood for spring!

We're wondering whether any of you GYO-ers ever spot friendly faces on the vegetable patch – birds, butterflies, frogs or hedgehogs – we don't mind; share your findings here!



Your comments may be edited and published in the March issue of Grow Your Own.

[Piggle]

I've given my husband the backend of my plot to cultivate as a wildlife area - so far he's grown a vole, possibly a badger and numerous birds.

On our site as a whole we have stoats, hedgepigs and owls and numerous other wildthings ..... it's a wonder any of us actually have any produce left !

[VirginVegGrower]

There's a toad on the plot next to me who grows his own

[Nicos]

For the past couple of years we've been lucky enough to find slow worms hiding under some black plastic sheeting we lay down to suppress weeds on one of our beds. We always have a careful peek underneath when we come to remove it- then leave the sheeting rolled up nearby so they can slip back under it again if the want to.
We also have a very careful look in the compost when it comes to the first turning of the year because we seem to have aquired a resident grass snake which lays her eggs in one corner.

We'd never had either before so we're really thrilled to have these new additions to our resident wildlife 'family'

[lottie dolly]

our site has foxes,and badgers,stoats have also been spotted and heard,and grass snakes,last year i very near trod on a baby one hiding in the leaf mould amongst the rhubarb,it skuried a way,butterflies,flying polinators,frogs,next year should see a lot more as we put in a pond beginning of this year,with other plot holders bring their donations to us,including 1 newt,we have the baddies as well,when you hear a loud buzzing i'ts the lone bee,a big one at that,then you know springs round the corner,everything wakes up very gradually,then the ladybird lave,

[Snadger]

I kid you not...........I saw a variagated rat in my chicken run yesterday evening.

Either that or Roland had been under the roosting perch when one of the chickens had a poo!

[Two_Sheds]

I get frogs, hedgehogs, butterflies, bees (100s of bees of all kinds) and birds: crows, jackdaw, robin, starling, sparrow, blackbird and, alas, woodpigeon.

Also voles and meeces, which aren't numerous enough to be a nuisance

[binley100]

This year we've been watching the kestrels with their young, we also have buzzards which are a great pigeon deterrent. Foxes which are a good rabbit deterrent , badgers, and muntjac deer along with the usual birds, mice etc.

[veggiechicken]

I don't have an allotment but my garden is alive and kicking with all manner of beasties. The most frequently seen visitors are the rabbits, that live in the briar patch, the moles that aerate the ground in a big way and the frogs that hibernate in the greenhouse. Plenty of birds too, of course, including the gardener's friend, the robin, who comes into the kitchen when the dogs aren't looking! Gardening would be a lonely hobby without the wildlife to talk to.

[Shadylane]

There's usually a robin that follows you around on the look out for a juicy fat one. There have always been frogs, even before we put the tiny wildlife pond in. The spiders enjoy the straw paths and the shed which is a total shed. They took over in there years ago I think. I've spotted a field mouse in the compost bin and holes all over. Also spotted bees flying into holes in the ground on occasion. I was tidying the raspberries the other day and noticed a pile of soggy leaves which I don't remember putting there. I lifted them up and saw a hedghog all snuggled up for the winter so covered him back up again.

Then of course there's the slugs...

[hamamelis]

My allotment site has a pair of resident green woodpeckers, or 'Yaffles' (I love the dialect name!), as well as the odd frog, tawny owl, fox and slow-worm.
The badgers have their own plot, and though they do ignore the 'no spending the night on your plot' site rule, they've not been kicked out of the sett yet.

[sewer rat]

At the various gardens I work in, I am lucky to have amongst the locals the following;
seals, dolphins, red deer, sika deer, roe deer, foxes, pine martins, red squirrels, weasels, rabbits, hares, pheasant, partridge, woodcock, assorted tits, finches and other garden birds, kestrel, sparrowhawk, peregrines, red kite, visiting osprey, buzzards, curlews and many others - I'm a lucky guy !

[solway cropper]

Had a male merlin sat on the front wall yesterday but it was gone as soon as I turned to get my camera. We regularly see them swooping low across the roads but this is the first time I've actually seen one in the village.

All my autumn/winter tree prunings get left in a pile at the bottom of the garden as a refuge for frogs and hedgehogs.

[Strawberry delight]

we were lucky enough to see a spotted woodpecker on one of the bird feeders we have.

[horticultural_hobbit]

Squirrels. Crafty, conniving, apple eating squirrels. The darlings are everywhere. The serenity of hobbitland is shattered by their scurrying and scampering at the speed of light. They love biting through the string that marks out areas.