Caring for our garden visitors

In the lead up to World Kindness Day, why not pledge to one act of kindness to benefit your garden wildlife? 

As the days get the shorter and the nights get colder, our garden visitors will be extremely grateful for some extra attention this Winter. 

If you can provide at least one of the following, then this can make a huge difference to the wildlife’s comfort during the Winter weather ahead.

Food 

Birds need to boost their reserves to survive the frosty weather. It’s important we do our part to support our feathered friends. 

• Place seed in wire cages rather than plastic nets to avoid birds such as woodpeckers getting their tongues caught
• Put out finely chopped bacon rind and grated cheese for smaller birds
• Scatter over-ripe apples and raisins for thrushes and blackbirds
• Put out a variety of feeds to encourage a range of birds, peanut cakes for starlings, insect cakes for tits, and berry cakes for finches

Water

Providing fresh water is particularly important during the Winter when natural supplies may be frozen. Leave a shallow dish filled with water at ground level to benefit other wildlife as well as birds.

It can be difficult to stop water from freezing over, but these simple tricks will help:

• Place a light ball in water, it will be moved by even a gentle breeze and will keep a small amount of water ice free.
• Create a hole in any iced-over ponds by placing a pan with hot water on the surface until it melts. Never tip the boiling water onto the ice as this can send harmful shockwaves through the water.

Shelter

You can create a shelter using twigs and leaves in the corner of your garden for wildlife to keep warm and safe. Bird boxes are also good roosting sites. 

It doesn't matter if you have a small garden in the city or a large garden in the countryside, by just providing at least one of the above, it will contribute significantly to a more comfortable Winter.

Our exclusive GreenThumb membership site, GreenThumb Gardens has plenty of brilliant products to enhance your garden and create an environment for nature to thrive. 

Shop here: www.greenthumbgardens.co.uk

Remember, discounts are available dependent on your lawn treatment programme!