Wherever you live in the world, garden wildlife can be a can bring both pleasure and pain. This is a brief look at some of the critters that can be found in the UK backyard. Depending on the size of your garden you may wish to encourage or deter certain wild animals, birds and insects. First, let us look at some garden wildlife that brings the greatest benefits followed by those less desirable menaces - you can decide whether they are 'friend or Family.

1. 9/7/2015 Garden Wildlife, Insects, Newts, Foxes, Frogs, Friend or Foe?
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Garden Wildlife: Insects, Newts, Foxes, Frogs; Friend or Foe?
Wherever you live in the world, garden wildlife can be a can bring both pleasure and pain. This is a brief look at some of the critters
that can be found in the UK backyard. Depending on the size of your garden you may wish to encourage or deter certain wild
animals, birds and insects. First, let us look at some garden wildlife that brings the greatest benefits followed by those less desirable
menaces ­ you can decide whether they are 'friend or foe';
Birds ­ The best time to feed birds is from November through the winter to April when they
set off to their breeding grounds. Adult birds need supplementary food to sustain them until
they can catch natural foods for their young. The best foods are those made available by
nature such as oil rich Black Sunflower seed but when they are not available the humble
peanut has remained the most popular garden bird food. Formulated seeds mixtures are
readily available from suppliers such as CJ WildBird Foods and suitable hanging feeders,
table and ground feeders can be found at Bird Feeding Station at different times of the year
depending on the needs of different species.
Clinging feeders should be used for the Tit family and the ground feeders for Robins,
Thrushes and Doves. Hanging feeders are for the clingers and ground feeders for the rest. The
Bird table offers safety from cats and hanging feeders filled with Sunflower Seed, Peanuts or
Sunflower Hearts to attract Tits, Greenfinch and Woodpeckers. Ground feeders with mixed seeds are for Thrushes, Robins and
Doves. Feeders filled with Nyjer seed attract the Goldfinch. It is probably fair to say that apart from having your seeds and fruit
stolen; birds can be by far the most pleasurable garden wildlife you can have.
Butterflies ­ Encouraging butterflies is a little more complicated than encouraging
birds, although flower seeds do attract both. It is more a case of creating a butterfly
garden environment that they can live and breed in rather than receiving migratory
visitations. Many plants will attract butterflys but a selection that flower at different
times is best to attract garden wildlife. Here are some ways to attract specific varieties;
Orange Tip ­ plant the lady's smock both for its nectar and as a larval food
plant.
White Butterflies ­ plant marigolds, globe thistle, candytuft catmint, purple
loostrife, heather, knapweed, cornflower and thistles.
Red Admirals, Small Tortoiseshells and Painted Ladies ­ plant heliotrope,
chrysanthemums, echincea, ivy, sunflowers, dahlias and Budleia.
Monarch Butterfly ­ simply plant a few fruit­bearing trees along with plenty of flowers.
Gatekeeper and Common Blue ­ plant marjoram or lavender for these and other smaller species.
Creating shelter in the winter is also important. Sheltered places in log piles, sheds and garages are common places for them to sit
out the cold weather during hibernation. A tidy garden is less attractive for these insects.
Hedgehog ­ Found throughout the UK, Hedgehogs are abundant in and around parks, pasture land wooded areas and gardens. Most
active on night, snails, slugs and earthworms form their staple diet. Leaving small trails of their black slug­shaped droppings in the
dew of the grass, they have long been the gardener's friend, particularly the vegetable plot where their diet consists of slugs and
other garden pests. In summer, hedgehog's shelter during the day in temporary nests built amongst the leaves and moss. By late
autumn they have put on enough weight in preparation for their hibernation when they nests under hedgerows, compost heaps and
old rabbit burrows. They will be emerging in the spring if they have not been eaten by their natural predators; Pine Martins,
Badgers, Stoats and Foxes. Although they are good swimmers, many hedgehogs drown in garden ponds as they are unable to get a
grip the slippery sides.
Hedgehogs can be encouraged into the garden wildlife in a number of ways;
Leave a wooden ramp of some kind at the edge of any garden pond, allowing them to climb out
Peg down fruit nets and store tennis nets off the ground when not in use
Leave some fallen leaves in a secluded place for nesting
Feed them using a variety of pet food, meat leftovers or unsalted peanuts and leave the food out at sunset making sure to
collect the leftovers in the morning
Newts ­ Being a protected species, newts should never be removed from the wild to bring home to incorporate into your own garden
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wildlife. However, if you create an ideal environment, you have a good chance of being able to attract them to the garden pond as
they wander around looking for a pond­type environment to colonise. These amphibious creatures like places to hide and shelter
which are damp so a loose rockery or pile of logs near to a pond is ideal. Ideal gardening plants for newt ponds are watercress, water
speedwell, flote­grass and water forget­me­nots.
The garden wildlife pond should be a pond that does not contain any fish because they will eat baby newts as soon as they hatch.
Crested Newt ­ the largest and rarest of the species which has a crest (fully protected)
Smooth or Common Newt ­ this has an orange belly with dark spots on its throat (partly protected)
Palmate Newt ­ this has a yellow belly and no spots (partly protected)
It is important to remember that a your pond is best left natural i.e. no filter, as the build up of algae serve a purpose of providing
newts with water insects which are their staple diet. Frogs and newts co­exist in relative harmony although both will eat tadpoles no
matter which they belong to.
Frogs ­ Common frogs can be found in woodlands, quarries and gardens. Breeding usually begins in late winter to early spring.
Young frogs leave their ponds in June and hide away in surrounding vegetation. With most of their time is spent out of the water,
they really only return to lay their frogspawn although they need to keep moist so prefer damp ground. They are at risk from
careless mowing and strimming, so protect this garden wildlife safe by keeping the grass short ­ mowing it regularly.
As with newts, ponds should have shallow edges to allow exit with ease. Ponds need direct sunlight to thrive properly and so a good
mixture of native pond plants like marsh marigolds and water violets should be used to see ponds thrive. The biggest benefit of
having frogs in your garden wildlife is to keep unwanted insects at bay. They eat snails, moths, slugs, beetles and mosquitoes to
mention a few, so planting lots of different shrubs and mulching garden beds will help attract them.
Squirrels ­ Grey squirrels are alien species to the UK and were introduced from the USA in the
late nineteenth/early twentieth century reducing the native red squirrel population. Squirrels are
rodents and therefore are gnawing animals. Most are active during the daytime and are basically
vegetarians. They eat a wide variety of plants, but they also eat fruits and nuts. In the autumn,
they are especially attracted to oaks, hazel and beech. Therefore, woodlands and urban areas,
especially near oaks, beeches and other nut trees, are their favourite environment. Their diet
includes seeds and berries, especially in spring and occasionally bird eggs, nestling birds and
insects.
Squirrels make interesting garden wildlife and are often attracted with minimal effort. Attracting
them by feeding them is not recommended as they tend to bury a few nuts for future use i.e. in
the middle of the lawn. When they dig up a nut they often leave a mess! It is not a good idea to
put out shelled peanuts or other small nuts as these attract a large number of pigeons along with their droppings. Nest boxes, made
of oaks, hazel and beech, can also be constructed if large mature trees are limited. One
Foxes ­ The red fox has become the most widespread of wild dogs in the UK gaining the
reputation for being sly and cunning. Although opportunist feeders, they will eat insects, berries,
birds, earthworms and small mammals. Their numbers continue to grow as scraps left by humans
have become easy pickings. Primarily active at dusk and night, faeces and urine are used to mark
their territories. If that is something you just cannot live with, then maybe having a Garden
Wildlife is not for you. Foxes, especially their cubs, are cute to say the least, but there is a high
risk of disease so caution should be taken when it comes to encouraging them especially when
there are young children around.
Moles ­ In the garden they are not harmful as such, but can make a real mess of your. Attracted
to the garden because of the earthworms beneath the soil, they wreak havoc upon the garden
simply by the lifestyle they lead. Trapping can be done by humane mole traps from a good
garden centre. However, they sometimes need to be set by an expert to be effective. Moles are territorial and the chances are that
once you present mole is captured the neighbours are likely to move in seizing the opportunity to increase their territory. Therefore,
trapping is not an absolute solution to eradicating your mole problem!
The best way of dealing with moles in the garden is to take preventative measures from the start. Being sensitive to noise there are
vibration and electronic buzzing devices on the market which can drive moles mad and stop them setting up home in the first place.
We hope you have found this information interesting and has helped you appreciate some of which Garden Wildlife may be your
friend or foe.