They recently cut back a lot of dead and diseased trees from the 400 year old woodland across the road from my bungalow and I have noticed a lot more wildlife in my garden, I have a wildlife wall I built at the end of my back garden and I know I have at least 2 resident fieldmice that have made their home in the wall, The Sparrow hawk now hunts in my garden as well now his hunting ground has been decimated in the woodland.....They did plant replacement native trees but it will be a long time before that part of the woodland is back to it's old self....I also have 3hedgehogs and at least 5 native lizards. They took over the wildlife wall as soon as I finished building it last year. And "TNKELLS" if you want hedgehogs in your garden it would be good to build a hedgehog house then contact St Tiggywinkles they have baby and young hedgehogs that were born to late to survive the winter. They are de-flead and you feed and take care of them until they reach a certain weight then they can be put in a cold place to hibernate for the winter. I keep mine in the garden shed once they have reached the right weight to survive hibernation then I release them into the garden when they wake up I had 3 babies this year from mum's that I helped last year
I am sure that I have a nest of mice under my shed. My cat spends hours staring at one spot. I also get delivered a small pile of intestines on the kitchen floor every so often. Lately my 'gifts' have also consisted of a live mouse. First I know of it is usually a little pile of cat biscuits piled up behind the armchair. I now have a number of humane mouse traps which usually do the trick as once the cat has bought the mouse inside it apparently loses its appeal.
Also, went into the shed to get some potatoes we have stored and found that they have made a start on them!
I thought I had mice in the garden (and I probably do) but the ones I saw all looked like their tails had been cropped short.....seems I have a very healthy tribe of bank voles (and a very cheeky rat)
We have woodmice, they disappear under the decking and we find nests in the cluttered garage. I had a shock once when I lifted the lid on the compost bin to find them nested in it. They are able to climb the metal pole from which we hang the fat blocks, even the squirrel can't do that!
When I sit outside the shed in the summer, I daren't move my feet because bees constantly come and go underneath the decking. Very relaxing watching bees going about their business and not minding me. I spent ages cutting up bamboo sticks to make bee boxes and in 2 years, I've not had a single bee in them. They obviously prefer the decking, since we have rather a lot of decking (I got rid of the lawn and had it decked and paved) I find that we have more wildlife in the garden than we had previously. I have tried to plant all the things bee like, and that way I don't feel so guilty when I plant things I like. I can't survive the summer without my french marigolds!
I love the wildlife wall. I don't have anywhere suitable for one, but I pile up all my twiggy cuttings at the back of the garden behind shrubs and I know there are lots of things living there.
Rats & mice are not to be encouraged close to human habitation - they belong out in the fields & I am with DragonflyBlue - curtains if they cross the threshhold. Both rodents are highly destructive if permitted to venture too close & there is no such thing as a 'single' rodent. Make excellent food for Owls & other birds of prey in their natural place. They are dirty & a menace in a chicken shed. Keep the balance - house garden = me field woods = rodents.
Hi Kate,Leo is walking on all fours again,Been up the golf course with him tonight heard a russel under a holly tree,In the leaf litter was a wood mouse best place for them.
Short of demanding that the neighbours stop keeping chickens and rabbits and stopping feeding the birds and hedgehogs, I'm at a loss to know how I can keep the rodents out (well, the rat at least). I do my best to clean round the bird feeders but the starlings insist on turfing out anything not to their liking, which seems to be everything but the fat pellets and the rat is as happy to be out during the day as at night. Two doors down there's a small-holding and beyond that the open countryside, so even before the neighbours had a menagerie we had rats tramping through. I'm not about to use poison, so any suggestions would be welcome.
if you have seen one mouse you will actually have about 20 plus running about! just had to get pest control in for aninvasion of the house! i love them in my compostheap and wood pile and the wildlife tower i have made in a dedicated wild area of my garden, but they can cause immense problems in the house if left unchecked!
Posts
They recently cut back a lot of dead and diseased trees from the 400 year old woodland across the road from my bungalow and I have noticed a lot more wildlife in my garden, I have a wildlife wall I built at the end of my back garden and I know I have at least 2 resident fieldmice that have made their home in the wall, The Sparrow hawk now hunts in my garden as well now his hunting ground has been decimated in the woodland.....They did plant replacement native trees but it will be a long time before that part of the woodland is back to it's old self....I also have 3hedgehogs and at least 5 native lizards. They took over the wildlife wall as soon as I finished building it last year. And "TNKELLS" if you want hedgehogs in your garden it would be good to build a hedgehog house then contact St Tiggywinkles they have baby and young hedgehogs that were born to late to survive the winter. They are de-flead and you feed and take care of them until they reach a certain weight then they can be put in a cold place to hibernate for the winter. I keep mine in the garden shed once they have reached the right weight to survive hibernation then I release them into the garden when they wake up I had 3 babies this year from mum's that I helped last year
How lovely, angelstar958. Your wildlife wall sounds interesting. Do you have a photo you could show us?
Kate
Also, went into the shed to get some potatoes we have stored and found that they have made a start on them!
This is a picture that was taken of my wild life wall by the local housing trust judges
when I won the Eco-Garden competition that they ran last year
I thought I had mice in the garden (and I probably do) but the ones I saw all looked like their tails had been cropped short.....seems I have a very healthy tribe of bank voles (and a very cheeky rat)
We have woodmice, they disappear under the decking and we find nests in the cluttered garage. I had a shock once when I lifted the lid on the compost bin to find them nested in it. They are able to climb the metal pole from which we hang the fat blocks, even the squirrel can't do that!
When I sit outside the shed in the summer, I daren't move my feet because bees constantly come and go underneath the decking. Very relaxing watching bees going about their business and not minding me. I spent ages cutting up bamboo sticks to make bee boxes and in 2 years, I've not had a single bee in them. They obviously prefer the decking, since we have rather a lot of decking (I got rid of the lawn and had it decked and paved) I find that we have more wildlife in the garden than we had previously. I have tried to plant all the things bee like, and that way I don't feel so guilty when I plant things I like. I can't survive the summer without my french marigolds!
I love the wildlife wall. I don't have anywhere suitable for one, but I pile up all my twiggy cuttings at the back of the garden behind shrubs and I know there are lots of things living there.
Rats & mice are not to be encouraged close to human habitation - they belong out in the fields & I am with DragonflyBlue - curtains if they cross the threshhold. Both rodents are highly destructive if permitted to venture too close & there is no such thing as a 'single' rodent. Make excellent food for Owls & other birds of prey in their natural place. They are dirty & a menace in a chicken shed. Keep the balance - house garden = me field woods = rodents.
Hi Kate,Leo is walking on all fours again,Been up the golf course with him tonight heard a russel under a holly tree,In the leaf litter was a wood mouse best place for them.
Dave Oldchippy
Short of demanding that the neighbours stop keeping chickens and rabbits and stopping feeding the birds and hedgehogs, I'm at a loss to know how I can keep the rodents out (well, the rat at least). I do my best to clean round the bird feeders but the starlings insist on turfing out anything not to their liking, which seems to be everything but the fat pellets and the rat is as happy to be out during the day as at night. Two doors down there's a small-holding and beyond that the open countryside, so even before the neighbours had a menagerie we had rats tramping through. I'm not about to use poison, so any suggestions would be welcome.
Aitch
if you have seen one mouse you will actually have about 20 plus running about! just had to get pest control in for aninvasion of the house! i love them in my compostheap and wood pile and the wildlife tower i have made in a dedicated wild area of my garden, but they can cause immense problems in the house if left unchecked!