Garden Wildlife

While the human population is on lockdown the natural world continues to the beat of its own drum. Appreciating what is in our immediate surroundings is now an even greater boon to anyone with an interest in wildlife.

At this time of year insect populations are increasing, amphibians are reproducing and birds are singing, displaying and moving. I am a cold weather person, however warmer days are my preferred times for garden observation. The recent bout of sunny weather has led to a range of interesting sightings including chiffchaff, blackcap and a healthy flock of Mediterranean gulls. You can see a decent amount from a window, however if you get outside you now have an enormous area of sky to observe. Over the past few years in my garden in Chichester I have observed a range of species from meadow pipits to red kites and peregrines, and even a white stork, all flying overhead.

The common wild ivy Hedera helix is one of the best all-round wildlife plants you can nurture. This patch
in my garden has been keeping several blackcaps well-fed recently.

 Down in the garden there are a number of things you can do to increase interest. This is a topic that could be spoken about at great length however if you add water, be it a pond or bird bath, and have a selection of plants popular with insects, native trees and shrubs are ideal, then you will almost certainly attract something interesting to look at (as well as improving their habitats).

My main pond is home to a large population of smooth newts.

After writing the above I went into the garden to take some pictures for this post, I then heard a distant ‘pronk’. Turned out there was a raven mobbing two buzzards high up, a garden first for me!

What started out as wanting a bird bath viewable from the house, ended up being a second pond. This is a large plastic plant pot (with no drainage holes..) buried to about 2/3rd depth, a brick circle was constructed around the outside and an upturned plant pot sunk to create a shallow area. The bricks in combination with the long grass provide extra habitat for amphibians and the shallow area provides an idea bird bath.

Observing your own patch of land and learning what uses it is well worthwhile. Appreciating the small things, and unlikely visitors, can bring great joy. While an individual garden is unlikely to be as diverse and abundant as a nature reserve, we can all try and make the disparity as small as possible by improving our piece of habitat. The raven was the 49^th species of bird I have recorded from this garden (what was that I said about not keeping lists in a previous post?), I wonder what will be number 50.

- Hugh Baggaley