How To Discourage Wildlife

blue_monkey_2

25 years ago when I was a kid we used to go down to one of the local fields where there was this 'wallow' I guess you could call it. Just a very large pond with about 2 ft of water but if you went into it you went waist high in mud and water. It was full of toads, frogs, fish and newts - hundreds of newts. Of course, the wallow is now long gone but I would spend hours in there catching fish and the frogs and toads (putting them back of course). This year we got some frogspawn from a friend for the kids to watch grow up. When they started sprouting legs we looked everywhere to find somewhere to put them and there is nothing around here - we are in the middle of the country and they have all dried up, been filled in or are long gone. It is such a disappointment. I read in the paper that just a few miles from here that some company building on a plot (for houses of course) 'accidently' filled in a pool of Great Crested Newts including their spawn and habitat - they knew it was there when they bought the land but all they got fined was a palrty £2000 - and they'll probably make £200k on each house they can now build on that plot. I found this a disgrace and hardly an incentive for people to look after our wildlife that is now in decline is it! I found this as well, what a shame people put more on the price of making money than looking after the wildlife around us and encouraging it to flourish:

http://www.naturewatch.org/campaigns/WildlifeCrime/habitat_destruction_print.asp

margaretclare

Hi blue_monkey, I agree with you completely.

I've read it somewhere that if it wasn't for ponds in people's gardens, ordinary frogs and toads would be extinct. A lot of wildlife depends on people's gardens and the people being friendly and relaxed about them, which is why a discussion like this is so upsetting. Much of our native wildlife is so threatened in its normal habitat - the countryside - because of land being sold off for building or being industrially-farmed, that it depends on people's back gardens! Especially what are called 'mature gardens' i.e. they have been there a while (in earlier decades all houses had much bigger gardens than modern housing) and the trees, shrubs, bushes etc are all well-established. If only we could get the idea through to people, to provide 'corridors' between gardens, gaps under fences where hedgehogs and other creatures can get through. No wild creature takes account of humans' boundary fences, they all have their own 'range' for finding food, males often travel further than females and overlap with the territory (range) of several females. And providing a source of water, even if it's only small, the birds need to bathe and to drink, and a small pond (without exotic species of fish!) provides endless pleasure and is useful.

People wonder why there is flooding - well, one explanation is not allowing land for rainwater to drain naturally, block-paving drives etc, over-building, there is nowhere for the water to go.

Margaret

Leopardlady

Thank you margaretclare i am just creating a pond in my garden, a neighbour has a pond and i have had a frog from there visit my garden, i was so happy to see him there, i was hoping he would eat more slugs but it was great to have him in my veg plot. I even put my hand into a plant and was a little shocked when something moved, i then saw him and left him alone. I live in the centre of Swindon but have dug up my lawn and planted a small veg plot and have three trees in pots and am planting as many plants that encourage insects, unfortunately there are so many cats in the area that birds stay high in the trees. But as said earlier i am going to create a pond, if i can get hold of some pond lining cheaply! And bring on the wild life, i miss the countryside, and want a little piece here in town!

bluedog

I am amazed by this thread as like many here, I so enjoy wildlife coming to my garden and am trying to develop it into my own mini nature reserve. I grow a range plants that are recommended to attract butterflies, bees, hornets etc and put in things that will attract all kinds of nature. When revamping the garden, perhaps the op should re-plant with non-flowering ones thus not attractive to bees and bring in those which are fly repelling too. (Google would help here.:) )

My dog picked up a hedgehog once only and his face was a picture as the spikes did more than tickle the insides of his mouth presumably as I didn't have time to even say "drop"! I'm surprised her dogs are so keen! (The hedgehog trundled off un-harmed too I hasten to add.)

As for the bats attacking, I find that completely unbelievable. To shatter the conception that bats live in old places only too, we moved to a new house when I was very young and pipistrel bats took up residence in the eaves a year or so after. The colony was registered with the bat society and we would regularly sit outside to count them as they left the roost in the evening and keep the society informed of any sudden changes in their numbers. (obviously this happened at their breeding time and this was done to keep their numbers up to date for conservation records.) At their peak, the colony was about 150 and on average, we had about 120. In all those years of watching that volume of bats regularly, not one of them attacked or even flew by close enough to swipe with a tennis racket. The opening to the eaves was above the back door and not once did any of the bats approach us and only swooped where they were finding food. If the op has a source of bat food - flies, moths etc - close to the house then either clear it of any plants, lights etc or put in plants that repel and use citronella too, thus the bats will have to go elsewhere. Over the years, we never ceased to be amazed at the mis-conceptions of people that they would be attacked or have a bat get tangled in their hair even! Bats aren't interested in humans and will actually avoid any form of contact, let alone attack. (Besides, their sensors are acutely tuned or they'd crash into just about everything !)

pboae

bluedog wrote: »

To shatter the conception that bats live in old places only too, we moved to a new house when I was very young and pipistrel bats took up residence in the eaves a year or so after.

Modern housing has saved the pipistrelle bat in this country. PVC soffits and fascias have a sort of grid behind them that is clipped on to the fixings. Once they are fastened on the grid becomes a warren of little tunnels and holes, absolutely perfect for pipistrelles. Because they are actually outside the house they cause few problems, and the vast majority of householders never even know they are there.