Helping Garden Wildlife Through Winter

Frogs and newts are useful garden residents, feeding on slugs and other insects, and their presence is generally a good sign that a pond is in reasonable health. Attracting them is mostly a matter of getting the habitat right rather than anything more involved.

Sited well and left in peace, an insect house can become a genuinely busy part of the garden. Many gardeners start by comparing a few insect houses before choosing one to match the space available.

Hedgehogs typically hibernate through the coldest months, often in piles of leaves, log stacks, www.gardenwildlife.com or purpose-built shelters tucked into a quiet corner. Anything resembling a bonfire pile should always be checked carefully before lighting, since it can look like an ideal hibernation spot to a hedgehog settling in for winter.

Winter is one of the harder seasons for garden wildlife. Natural food becomes scarce, cold weakens smaller animals quickly, and many species rely on undisturbed shelter to see them through to spring rather than active foraging.

Nematodes are microscopic roundworms that occur naturally in soil, and certain species have been developed for use against specific garden pests. Rather than acting as a broad chemical treatment, each nematode species is matched to a particular pest, seeking it out and interrupting its lifecycle with far less impact on the rest of the garden than a chemical spray.

Timing across the season is worth planning for deliberately, since gaps in flowering leave pollinators with nothing to forage on for weeks at a stretch. Leaving seed heads standing rather than cutting borders back in autumn also gives finches and other seed-eating birds a natural food source right through the colder months.