Wildlife on the plot

[Sian Bunney]

Hello everyone!

For our June issue, please describe any spaces for wildlife you have created on the plot.

Let me know your thoughts!

Sian

[Cadalot]

We have an area of our site given over as a natural habitat for slow worms. First time I saw one in the flesh I thought it was a snake, it looked an me and I looked at it then it was gone, I have no idea why they are called slow they can move quite quickly when they want too I never got time to get a photo on my phone.

[burnie]

I have actually gone slightly the other way and de "wildlifed" a bit too many of the wrong animals, rabbits and rats took up residence. I am licenced as a pest controller/crop protector, but I only shoot/trap as a last resort. A pond will be going in later this summer.

[bario1]

Currently none, but I have a bee brick that I'll put up soon, and I'm also hoping to get a pond in by the Autumn.

[Guest]

That would be the entire patch and garden

I garden whilst trying to be considerate (to an extent) to wildlife. Instead of feeding birds I have a foragers hedge which is as much for them as it is for me. When I cut the grass it is still quite long. I don't tend to rush on the tidy front. There are a couple of bug houses and birdhouses but the wildlife doesn't seem fussed. This year I have tried to do a meadow patch. I try to favour single flowers rather than doubles. Veg and herbs are often left to flower/ go to seed. I try and increase on the range of plants each year. Companion plants again, whilst they benefit me they also benefit wildlife. Only as a last resort will I use weedkiller and the biggest nasty I use in the garden is washing up liquid and that is very rare. I accept that some plants/flowers/veg will get eaten - there is always next year.

[Muddy_Boots]

This year on plot 2 will be my Bumblebee hive on the left hand side of my man cave which is to help to add more queens this year to boost the bees in the wild next year. Pictures and vids will be posted in here on a dedicated thread showing their progress and of course I'm taking part in the Blooms for Bees study as well.

[TrixC]

My plot is wildlife friendly through general weediness and benign neglect. There are a family of foxes living under the bramble patch at the back of the plot and on Sat we were treated to the site of two tiny and very cute cubs playing, they didn't seem afraid of us at all.

[Bigmallly]

I have a nice Heron-Proof pond on the plot, it's great sitting there listening to the waterfall & watching the robin skimming the water for pond pellets:

[Jay-ell]

At the moment as I'm reworking the plot all I have is a pond. It's not a very big pond, it's not even a very nice pond but it's a pond that has frog spawn in it so I'm not touching it at the moment. I do want to rework and replant that area but I'm going to have to research more about ponds.

I do have some aromatic paths with chamomile, penny royal and thyme instead of grass which not only smell nice, deter some pests (e.g. flea beetles) with out using spray and provide flowers that pollinators seem to like

There's also a bit of a wilderness corridore running up the side of the New Territories along side the hedge by the fence, but this is more accident than design and is basically a place that the invasive weeds (nettles, bind weed, ground elder) go to hang out. I'm gradually replacing this with a comfrey curtain and a ramsons rug to keep the weeds out but to still provide a run of cover up the garden for frogs as well as a host of flowers for pollinators, although I could plant a few hostas under there to attract all the slugs to a frog restaurant. Just though of that

[GBax]

Plenty of bird boxes, lots of bird feeders and a couple of bee hotels (must make some more)
Apart from around the trees which are kept weed free my orchard is left rough and only mown once a year.

I also control the squirrel numbers as i was fed up of having every single bird box chewed open and the eggs/ chicks eaten.

[1Bee]

We're lucky to have a hedgerow on two sides of our plot, and I'm careful to not tidy it up too much. I always leave a patch of nettles to grow somewhere, and now our patch has expanded slightly I've created a beetle bank on another boundary. I usually leave a few brassicas to bolt away and flower - the hoverflies in particular seem to like to early nectar.

[ESBkevin]

I have an insect hotel on a post 18" off the ground by the fruit trees (arguable as to whether thats the best location).

I have an 4ft by 12ft area Hugalkulter that is left planted all year round.
Half the plot is experimental no dig this year so lots of mulch/woodchip/cardboard for the smaller wildlife and birds.
One solitary bird box on the shed (unoccupied since installed 2 years ago).
All the sunflowers (about a dozen) were left in situ over winter as a food source.
I always leave some greens uncoverred for the winter birds (pigeons) but use nets on about 80% for me.
Our allotments have two male robins (Bill & Ben) that attend all digging sessions but keep distance from one another, together with a few blackbirds now and again.
Finally three straw bales are covered on top with a sheet of weighed down cardboard to keep off the worst of the wet, these provide nesting material to the birds around now.
I'm sure nature takes advantage of other things on site but thats my contribution.

[Mark_Riga]

I'd be very interested to how you control squirrels GBax. I've got a couple of traps but have only ever managed to catch 1 squirrel and I think that was an accident. Any bate I used seemed to get eaten but the trap didn't go off - suspect mice were the culprits.

[Mark_Riga]

I dug a pond (or rather my daughter did) and have seen newts in it in the past. The area around the pond has some bought pond plants but mainly it has rewilded itself with grass, nettles docks, rasperries, thistles etc. plenty of bumblebees about and later in year get dragon flies and damsel flies. Quite often see grass snakes.
Just seen our first swallow - but that isn't really in the garden but nests in a disused coal shed - with a blackbird for company this year. Quite a few reed warblers use the bird table in winter so I assume they find somewhere suitable to nest on the ground round and about.

[veggiechicken]

The wildlife let me share their garden. I try not to interfere as they have lived here longer than me.
There are slow worms in the compost bin, frogspawn in the pond, birds taking dog fur from a feeder for their nests, bees of all sorts and I've started a Challenge on the Grapevine to make 2017 the Year of the Butterfly. http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ies_91311.html