Hello Everyone
Wildlife is fascinating and with a change in climate being forecast I thought I would take more interest in what is happening around my local area. My garden is in North Yorkshire, England.
I am lucky to have a large back garden which has been used for growing fruit and vegetables. It used to be a forest before the housing estate was built and there are still a lot of trees. I have also kept hens but have turned the old hen-run into a wildlife garden.
Squirrels raid the fruit bushes and the summer's sunflowers have been a popular attraction as they have sat on the seedheads and hung over the edge to get at the seeds.
Blackbirds, Robins, Collared Doves, Bluetits and Sparrows are all regular visitors. There has been an occasional Wren, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and not to mention a Sparrowhawk that landed with it's prey beside the greenhouse.
Hedgehogs have been to visit my garden. I watched as one of the wobbled up the path, I assumed that must have been Mum as she left four babies underneath the shed. They became quite an attraction as they wombled about the gardens. Care had to be taken that we didn't stand on them as they were out and about mid-morning till afternoon. My small neighbour noticed that one baby wasn't moving. On close inspection by her Mum we discovered that the newly cut grass had made tourniquets round its toes. We had to carefully cut the grass away with small scissors and pull it away with the tweezers. One baby hedgehog rescued!
A recently acquired pond provides a home for Frogs and has replaced my large plant pot.
The only Toad I ever found was inside a compost bag where it was damp and cold. The only way of knowing it was there was by feeling the bag move.
Bats fly around this area as well. The nearest I have ever been to one was in Malaya when a Flying Fox zoomed straight through the house and my cup of coffee ended up on the wall due to me being so startled. Not my favourite kind of creature.
I hope my website will be of interest to anyone who likes to study nature.
Mariion
