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    Gardening With Nature - April

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    Richard Tongue
    The document discusses encouraging frogs and toads in gardens by providing damp, shaded areas with ground cover for them to live in safely away from predators, and how their voracious appetite for slugs and other pests makes them rewarding garden visitors. It also mentions encouraging bats by using a bat detector to identify varieties present at dusk and dawn, and continuing to feed and provide water for birds as they feed fledglings and need help at this time of year.

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    Gardening With Nature - April

    Uploaded by

    Richard Tongue
    11 views1 page
    The document discusses encouraging frogs and toads in gardens by providing damp, shaded areas with ground cover for them to live in safely away from predators, and how their voracious appetite for slugs and other pests makes them rewarding garden visitors. It also mentions encouraging bats by using a bat detector to identify varieties present at dusk and dawn, and continuing to feed and provide water for birds as they feed fledglings and need help at this time of year.

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    Gardening with Nature - April

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    The document discusses encouraging frogs and toads in gardens by providing damp, shaded areas with ground cover for them to live in safely away from predators, and how their voracious appetite for slugs and other pests makes them rewarding garden visitors. It also mentions encouraging bats by using a bat detector to identify varieties present at dusk and dawn, and continuing to feed and provide water for birds as they feed fledglings and need help at this time of year.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    11 views1 page

    Gardening With Nature - April

    Uploaded by

    Richard Tongue
    The document discusses encouraging frogs and toads in gardens by providing damp, shaded areas with ground cover for them to live in safely away from predators, and how their voracious appetite for slugs and other pests makes them rewarding garden visitors. It also mentions encouraging bats by using a bat detector to identify varieties present at dusk and dawn, and continuing to feed and provide water for birds as they feed fledglings and need help at this time of year.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    GARDENING WITH NATURE: APRIL

    The beautiful flowers in our gardens, greening hedgerows and the glorious froth of fruit blossom tells us
    that Spring is well underway. Some birds are already rearing their first brood of the year and many more
    with nests full of eggs are waiting for the hard work to begin. It is at this time of the year that frogs and
    toads become sociable, with a dozen or more making use of even the most modest pond to fight for a
    mate and to lay their eggs. Not everyone wants a pond in their garden, lack of space or young children
    can make such a scheme impractical, even downright dangerous. The good news, for those who would
    like to have these slug eating friends is that you don’t need a pond.

    Although they need water in which to lay their eggs, they do not live there all year round. To encourage
    them to live in your garden you need to provide them for them a damp, shady area with ground cover -
    long grass, ivy or any shade-loving low growing plants of your choice. This will provide vital
    accommodation for the many tiny frog and toadlets who will leave the ponds during the summer
    months. Here they will live safe from predators with a good supply of food and the moisture they need
    to keep their skin healthy. You can also provide hibernation shelters. We’ll deal with that subject later in
    the year.

    It does pay to encourage these tiny visitors as they have a voracious appetite for many of the garden
    pests which drive we gardeners to distraction, and as the grow they will remain with you year on year
    feasting on slugs and other pests. Gardening with nature can be rewarding in more ways than one. As
    the evenings become warmer and the nights shorter bats will be on patrol at dusk and again at dawn.
    Worthen is blessed with several varieties of this species - Pipistrelle, Short-Eared, Serotine and even the
    odd Daubentons, a variety with skins over water to catch insects.

    Bats can be difficult to identify in the half-light as they move so quickly but they can be heard with the
    aid of a bat detector which by picking up their sonar signals can identify them. If anyone or perhaps a
    group would like to try this, I have a simple bat detector they can borrow. It can be an interesting way to
    spend an evening! Under trees, near water or beside hedgerows are some of the best places, so almost
    anywhere in the area will be fine.

    Now we are all busy sowing seeds, pricking out and potting on young plants please continue to feed the
    birds as they need our help now every bit as much as in winter. At this time of the year mealworms are
    an excellent choice along with suet, both of which can be fed to fledglings. Top up bird baths daily. A
    wood pigeon can empty a small bird bath during its ablutions. At the moment celandine are putting on
    their annual show. These small shimmering yellow flowers are a wonderful source of food for insects.
    They are very obliging indeed and are a gift to gardeners. They flourish on poor ground and vanish
    without a trace causing no mess, and cost neither effort nor money. What’s not to like?

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