Lockdown Wildlife

During lockdown, thanks to the reduced number people out and about, wildlife has been getting more adventurous and there have been many more wild visitors to my family's garden. As well as the usual garden birds, bugs and occasional stray chickens, we have had foxes, a badger, bullfinches, the baby magpie from the nest in our ash tree, goldfinches, a pair of collared doves, snakes and a colony of wasps who made a home in my old guinea pig hutch!

Usually my family's bird table and feeder only attract small garden birds, and our resident pair of wood pigeons, but in recent weeks we have had some more unusual visitors. A badger and fox have been visiting our bird table at night and feasting on the birdseed we regularly leave out. Apparently hungry foxes are often seen feeding from bird feeders in urban areas. If there is a regular supply of food (such as our protein rich sunflower seeds) they can become regular visitors and return almost every night.

During the evenings, whilst out for our exercise, my Mum and I have seen several foxes in the meadow opposite our house. One evening my Mum also saw a badger, which was probably the one that visits our bird table. However by the time she had called me to see it the badger had unfortunately disappeared into the undergrowth.

The wasps nest was found by my little sister. She went to feed her pet snails (who were living in the old guinea pig hutch) and she saw the nest attached to the inside of the cage. When we observed the nest, it was rather small so we assumed it just belonged to a solitary wasp. However, after a few weeks, more and more paper thin layers were added until the nest had grown rather large and had wasps regularly flying in and out. Because the hutch was on the decking, where my family and I often sit, we were worried that by the late summer there would be considerably more of them buzzing around causing a nuisance and possibly stinging us. Looking online for a solution, the only apparent option was to destroy the nest which would kill the queen and any larvae, this would lead to the rest of the colony dying out. Not wanting to harm the wasps, I rang Peter Lead, who I know from my local beekeeping club. He recommended waiting until the evening when the wasps were least active, covering the chicken wire mesh at the front of the hutch with a sheet and moving the nest to somewhere out the way. My Mum and I successfully moved the hutch around the side of the house. After that, apart from a few slightly confused wasps trying to find their way back to their nest's new location the next day, they caused no trouble at all!

We have also had some surprises during our time in lockdown, one afternoon whilst my brother and I were out on our bikes my mum found a snake in the kitchen. Unsure what it was, she asked my sister to take a closer look, on inspection it began to slither about! It turned out to be a young grass snake which we caught in a jar and released in the meadow. A few weeks later I found another snake in the same place! I tried to pick it up but it wriggled around to much and got away, I found an old butterfly cage (which I usually use for raising caterpillars) in the cupboard and managed to get the snake to slither in. After I had shown my family I found it was actually a slow worm, which is in fact a legless lizard, not a snake.

My family and I leave seed out for the birds every morning, many garden birds visit regularly, the magpies will even jump along the fence shouting and making a racket if not fed! Over lockdown we have had some new birds on the block, including: collared doves, goldfinches and bullfinches. The baby magpie has also left the nest in our ash tree and we have seen it shouting and hopping around our neighbours' roof waiting for it's parents to feed it.

We are looking forward to the end of lockdown and to see if our new visitors continue to use our garden, I hope they will!