2018 - February
Bring wildlife into your Garden
As well as being a part of our wetlands project here are some things that can bring Wildlife into your own Garden.
Plant favourite bird foods like flax and kōwhai.
Birds such as fantail, grey warbler and silvereye are insect eaters so plant varieties are not as important as a healthy mix of spiders, moths, beetles, and earthworms etc.
1 cup of sugar to 2 litres of water, put enough out for one day.
Wildlife has different requirements for nesting sites and hiding places.
Kingfisher, Ruru and long-tailed bat, for example, prefer standing dead trees whilst lizards will use fallen logs.
Many small insects live in holes in wood which can be recreated with Bug Hotels.
Putting food out for birds on bird tables or feeders made from recycled plastic bottles is cheap and easy.
Harakeke
A good layer of mulch or leaf litter on the garden will encourage insects, and birds are a natural way of keeping them under control. Ruru (morepork) and kingfisher eat insects as well as mice.
Plant a lot of trees.
Your site may not be large enough for some species to nest and breed but they may still use it as a seasonal feeding ground.
Many areas of native bush and wetlands are now small and widely spaced across the landscape.
Your garden may help birds move between these areas.
Pinecones spread with peanut butter and rolled in seeds to hang in the trees especially in winter
A Bug Hotel can be made from:
Old wooden pallets
Strips of wood
Straw
Moss
Dry leaves
Woodchips
Old terracotta pots
Old roofing tiles
Bricks, preferably those with holes through them
Old logs
Bark
Pine cones
Sand
Soil
Hollow bamboo canes
Dead hollow stems cut from shrubs and herbaceous plants
A sheet of roofing felt
Planks of wood
Whatever else you can find - preferably natural materials
Putting food out for birds on bird tables or feeders made from recycled plastic bottles is cheap and easy.
Nest boxes are easy to make and are sold at most Garden Centres.
Nest Box
Water around the garden for animals and insects drinking and bathing