In difficult winter conditions, animals can find it hard to find sufficient food, water, and shelter when it gets frosty. In this part 1 of or three-part winter wildlife series, we will be covering the best ways to keep your favourite animals sheltered this winter.
Click the links if you would like to see the rest of the series covering ‘Top tips for providing food for animals in winter‘ and the ‘Best ways to attract wildlife to your garden this winter‘.
Wildlife is the most vulnerable to the elements during winter and providing shelter is one of the best ways to help. Below are some of the easiest and most effective ways to support them. Remember not to disturb them until hibernation time is over around April. (Hibernation may change depending on the mildness of the Winter months)
Compost heaps
Compost heaps make a perfect home for frogs, toads and other animals.
Make something special for wildlife
Bird boxes, hedgehog homes, and other undisturbed areas in your garden make cosy shelters and habitats where wildlife can hibernate.
Gather items for shelter
Provide a safe home for hedgehogs and even insects by collecting fallen leaves for leaf mould, rocks, twigs and rotting wood from your lawn or patio and place these underneath hedges and shrubs for the perfect undisturbed nest in which animals can hide, rest and hibernate.
Let your garden go wild
Give butterflies and insects’ shelter from the weather throughout winter by leaving the task of tidying your garden borders, shrubs and letting the grass grow until early spring.
Create bundles of stems
If you have cut your herbaceous perennials, you can bundle the stems together and leave them in a secluded place for Ladybirds, beetles and other small mammals to take shelter giving the added benefit of them being on hand to prevent any early pest infestations.
