Winter hibernation!

Nohing has happened recently in the wildlife garden as it has been too wet and cold to go there! Ron has had a bout of bronchitis and as the cottage is a bit cold and damp at the moment I was worried that a stay might not do him too much good.

I have been researching the plants I want to put in and also plans for making homes for:-

Bumble bees
Solitary bees
Hedgehogs
Beetles
Bugs

We have also made a robin box so need to find some sites in the garden to put them up.

Operation Birdbox!

Operation birdbox has begun and Ron & I have made a Sparrow Terrace and two single boxes with holes sized for great Tits and Nuthatches.

The terrace has been fixed above the barn door as there have always been sparrows nesting in the wall here.

The start of the pond....

This small pond was dug when we had the new septic tank and drainage installed in May 2008. The man who drove the digger was a bit of an eco warrior so when he needed topsoil for covering the sand filter bed Ron suggested he took it from the far field and left us with a pond. He was only too happy to oblige! The ground around there is wet so it quickly filled with water and we have no trouble keeping the levels up. We started by making a slope lined with stones which reach down into the water so that any small mammals which fall in can have a safe way to get out. A path around the edge is gradually being created with bark chippings made with the prunings of trees and shrubs from elsewhere in the garden.

Our first planting around the pond has been some Arum Lilies donated by my friend, Ilse.

The start of the project...

This is the field we are planning to convert into our wildlife area. Most of the old grass has died off and we are starting to plan where the paths will go to get to the small pond which has been dug at the bottom of the field near the old Oak tree.

Birds seen in the garden

This is a list of the birds we have seen visiting the garden.
Robin
Chaffinch
Bullfinch
Greenfinch
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Marsh Tit
Wren
Nuthatch
Magpie
Jay
House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Dunnock
Collared Dove
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Brambling (January migration)
Swallow
Cuckoo (only seen overhead but heard frequently)

The start of it all.....

We decided to set up a wildlife area in one of the fields which belong to us at our gite near Huelgoat in the Parc Naturel d'Armorique, Brittany, France. This blog will follow the creation and maintenance of the area so that prospective visitors to our gite can see what we are doing and past visitors can follow it's progress.