October will see a reduction in the number and variety of species to be seen in our gardens so this is a good time to undertake a bit of maintenance that will benefit your local wildlife. Many of our songbirds will fail to make it through the cold weather so anything we can do to help them might make all the difference. However, in addition to putting out the food it is essential that we keep the feeders clean to avoid a recurrence of the diseases that have affected some of our small birds in recent years. Ideally, feeders should be cleaned regularly using a stiff brush and a solution of one part bleach to nine parts hot water. After cleaning, the feeders must be rinsed to get rid of all of the chemicals and dried before adding food. It is also important to clean around the feeding area to avoid a build up of rotting food that will harbour disease and may attract rats.
Bird boxes should also be cleaned now that the young have fledged, to remove fleas and other parasites that will have built up during the breeding season. The best way to do this is to flood the box with boiling water and then allow the box to dry out before putting the lid back on. Insecticides should not be used. When the box is completely dry, a few untreated wood shavings can be placed in the box to make it a comfortable place for birds to roost during the winter. Small birds often roost close together to conserve heat during the winter months and the record number of wrens found roosting in a single nest box is an incredible 63!!
It is well worth installing a “bug hotel” in your garden. If you are wondering why you might benefit from providing a home for insects, consider that most of your garden plants are pollinated by bees and that 
ladybirds and lacewings are major predators of the aphids that terrorise your garden. The hotel consists of a wooden box with a number of tubes of various diameters fitted in place. The tubes can be short lengths of garden cane, rolled paper or hollow reeds. You can also drill holes part way through a block of wood (1/4 inch holes for leafcutter bees and 5/16 inch holes for mason bees) but make sure the holes slope slightly upwards so that rainwater doesn’t run in. Fix the hotel off the ground, facing south to avoid those bitter winter winds.
Hedgehogs have been having a rough time of it recently, with numbers falling by more than 90% over the last 50 years. If you are fortunate enough to have one in your garden, now is the time to make sure it has somewhere to hibernate for the winter. A hedgehog home can easily be made by turning a wooden crate upside down and covering it with soil and turf, having first made sure that there is a south-facing entrance tunnel. You could add a few dry leaves to make it cosy, but the hedgehog will soon add its own furnishings. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of building a house, then leaving spaces under your shed or in a pile of old logs will serve the same purpose. Your reward will come next year when the hedgehog wakes up and tucks into your snails, slugs and caterpillars.
October will see a reduction in the number and variety of species to be seen in our gardens so this is a good time to undertake a bit of maintenance that will benefit your local wildlife. Many of our songbirds will fail to make it through the cold weather so anything we can do to help them might make all the difference. However, in addition to putting out the food it is essential that we keep the feeders clean to avoid a recurrence of the diseases that have affected some of our small birds in recent years. Ideally, feeders should be cleaned regularly using a stiff brush and a solution of one part bleach to nine parts hot water. After cleaning, the feeders must be rinsed to get rid of all of the chemicals and dried before adding food. It is also important to clean around the feeding area to avoid a build up of rotting food that will harbour disease and may attract rats.
Bird boxes should also be cleaned now that the young have fledged, to remove fleas and other parasites that will have built up during the breeding season. The best way to do this is to flood the box with boiling water and then allow the box to dry out before putting the lid back on. Insecticides should not be used. When the box is completely dry, a few untreated wood shavings can be placed in the box to make it a comfortable place for birds to roost during the winter. Small birds often roost close together to conserve heat during the winter months and the record number of wrens found roosting in a single nest box is an incredible 63!!
It is well worth installing a “bug hotel” in your garden. If you are wondering why you might benefit from providing a home for insects, consider that most of your garden plants are pollinated by bees and that ladybirds and lacewings are major predators of the aphids that terrorise your garden. The hotel consists of a wooden box with a number of tubes of various diameters fitted in place. The tubes can be short lengths of garden cane, rolled paper or hollow reeds. You can also drill holes part way through a block of wood (1/4 inch holes for leafcutter bees and 5/16 inch holes for mason bees) but make sure the holes slope slightly upwards so that rainwater doesn’t run in. Fix the hotel off the ground, facing south to avoid those bitter winter winds.
Hedgehogs have been having a rough time of it recently, with numbers falling by more than 90% over the last 50 years. If you are fortunate enough to have one in your garden, now is the time to make sure it has somewhere to hibernate for the winter. A hedgehog home can easily be made by turning a wooden crate upside down and covering it with soil and turf, having first made sure that there is a south-facing entrance tunnel. You could add a few dry leaves to make it cosy, but the hedgehog will soon add its own furnishings. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of building a house, then leaving spaces under your shed or in a pile of old logs will serve the same purpose. Your reward will come next year when the hedgehog wakes up and tucks into your snails, slugs and caterpillars.