Our Wildlife, please spare a thought

[Jen]

It is my dream to have a hedgehog in the garden.

My friend has one around her house atm. She keeps stopping traffic to get it to cross the road safely

 

[Charlie]

@HAH that's brilliant, we need more bee keepers!! You can do a course, my son did and he thoroughly enjoyed it. x

 

[Hollysdad]

Our estate is very unfriendly to hedgehogs. It was built with a lot of walls linking the houses so they have very few 'through routes'.

A couple of years ago we started asking neighbours to leave gaps under their gates and holes in fences to give hedgehogs more routes through the estate. Sadly we haven't seen any hedgehogs yet. Does anyone have any suggestions about other steps we could take?

 

[SwampDonkey]

Get in touch with your local wildlife rescue they are always looking for good release sites.

 

[Beanwood]

couple of years ago we started asking neighbours to leave gaps under their gates and holes in fences to give hedgehogs more routes through the estate. Sadly we haven't seen any hedgehogs yet. Does anyone have any suggestions about other steps we could take?

Aim a few rockets at the estate walls???

 

[Hollysdad]

Aim a few rockets at the estate walls???

Lacks subtlety.

 

[snowbunny]

But fun! I believe you're a bit of a whizz with the rockets, it should be right up your street!

My suggestion was "go to a rescue centre and adopt a hedgehog", but that might not be very helpful, either...

 

[SwampDonkey]

A work colleague adopts the slightly damaged hedgehogs she got a one eyed one and a couple with 3 legs. They release in her garden because the hedgies can't get out and are protected . She takes the ones who won't make it in the wild.

 

[Mr Beanwood]

Kate, I have been told to put sugar in the water for bees, is that correct? x

Hi @Charlie - bees only need fresh water generally. You're spot on if you see a bee on the floor, that's lethargic. They can have a little sugar water, as it may give them just enough energy to redouble their efforts and buzz off. I wouldn't recommend leaving sugar water out generally, unless you're trying to attract wasps

@Beanwood I'm really excited to hear you're a bee expert! It's one of my dreams to keep bees; hopefully we'll start making it happen next year, plan is to join the local club and shadow a pro for a season x

@HAH - sounds like a great idea. Go along to your local apiary and meet some beekeepers, and of course some bees. They can be quite daunting when there are 75,000 of the little sweethearts who are a bit miffed because you're nicking their honey... You'll need to get stung a few tiems as well - some people don't take to that at all - but it WILL happen, so get to see if you can tolerate it. Then, get on a beekeeping course - there's LOADS to learn, some of it important, other bits less so. Bees left to their own devices can become a bit of a problem.

Open offer - I'm happy to show visitors a couple of my colonies if you're interested, and ever nearby.

 

[Boogie]

My friend keeps bees, but two of her hives failed this year.

My garden is too small

 

[Selina27]

Lacks subtlety.

Who cares?

 

[Charlie]

Thanks @Mr Beanwood very helpful and exactly what my son (soon to be a bee keeper) told me!

Thomas has had a fascination with bees for years so was thrilled when I found a course very nearby for him to do. The club is trying very hard to encourage young bee keepers so that the older generation can pass on their knowledge. He has been going to this great club for two years and was the youngest member at 16 years old. He has been allocated a mentor which has been very helpful, going to his house to help with his hives and to learn as much as possible. When he sets up his own hive x

I am hoping to make candles from the wax, not sure how much honey or wax you would get from one hive though! Gotta start somewhere!

I think Bees might just be addictive!!

What a great, kind offer, thank you x

 

[Selina27]

I am in love with the hedgehogs in the garden

I know, they're fab. My son went through a phase of keeping ferrets, and a family of hedgehogs used to come under their hutch in the evening to eat up the food they had dropped. After that my daughter got a rabbit, and proofing the garden against him meant that the hedgehogs couldn't get in, then I thought they'd gone for good. But Cassie knows different I'm delighted to say we have one residing in the berberis up against the house! We are on heavy clay here, slugs are a real pest so hedgepigs are welcome! But in this dry spell I have been putting some cat food in the garden overnight.

 

[Mr Beanwood]

Thanks @Mr Beanwood very helpful and exactly what my son (soon to be a bee keeper) told me!

Thomas has had a fascination with bees for years so was thrilled when I found a course very nearby for him to do. The club is trying very hard to encourage young bee keepers so that the older generation can pass on their knowledge. He has been going to this great club for two years and was the youngest member at 16 years old. He has been allocated a mentor which has been very helpful, going to his house to help with his hives and to learn as much as possible. When he sets up his own hive x

I am hoping to make candles from the wax, not sure how much honey or wax you would get from one hive though! Gotta start somewhere!

I think Bees might just be addictive!!

What a great, kind offer, thank you x

Wow @Charlie - that sounds like a REALLY great start!!

Bees are indeed addictive - and if you look after them well, you just get more...and more... and more of them!!!!

Candles may be good (I've not had the patience or inclination yet) but until he's got a few colonies, for a very small amount of wax, you could make some nice lip balm

 

[Shortie]

We get hedgehogs in the garden at times which is lovely. Lots of frogs too especially a couple of weeks a year when they make there way to neighbours ponds. When Mr Shortie ? put up the new fence, he made some gaps at the bottom so they can get through. Lots of birds and a huge fat wood pigeon visit the garden. We have a dog water bowl, use to be for birds before Dexter came along but will look into adding a taller birdbath. Loads of slugs & snails which I don’t like. Blighters eat the plants and we must be the only people who can’t get ruhubard to grow . We also get lizards which I really like to watch. Oh and bees only ones visiting the flowers though. I saved one last year by giving it some water and a couple of years ago, I rescued a bat that had got itself stuck in the drain.

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

I'm all at the hedgehog love in here - they're pests! They will rip a broody chook/chicks to shreds if given the chance, and if you've got chickens that don't roost they'll rip into them too. They're a threat to ground-nesting birds, which a lot of our natives are. I don't trap them or hurt them, I've rescued them off roads and even taken one to the SPCA, but I'm completely supportive trapping (Pest Free NZ 2050 is the government goal). We've got a different attitude in NZ. Possums are another one that we hunt/bait/trap.

 

[Cath]

I have 3 bird baths which I keep full. One is on the ground so other animals can drink from it.

 

[Selina27]

they're pests!

Would I be right in saying that both hedgehogs and possums where introduced by settlers into NZ? And as such were never part of the natural fauna and have been able exploit the situation that they found themselves in.
In the Uk hedgehogs are much loved part of the natural scene, I've kept poultry in the past and not been troubled by them as predators.

The rise and rise of the badgers here is problematic for our ground nesting birds.

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

Would I be right in saying that both hedgehogs and possums where introduced by settlers into NZ? And as such were never part of the natural fauna and have been able exploit the situation that they found themselves in.

Bingo. Ferrets/stoats/weasels (also introduced, now banned as pets) have been devastating too. Our two most famous birds (kiwi and kakapo) used to be able to fly, but no predators+evolution=bye bye working wings. Cats and dogs are also devastating to our wildlife, it's a real shame what damage irresponsible pet ownership has caused.

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

The rise and rise of the badgers here is problematic for our ground nesting birds.

Are there any population control measures in place for badgers?