Wildlife in the Stuart Garden

My name is David, and this is a short piece on the wildlife in the Stuart Court garden.

"I have always had a keen interest in wildlife, and moving in here some 20 months ago, I immediately started looking for the local species, and I must say that I haven't been disappointed.

We have most of the common garden birds i.e. wrens, robins, blue tits, great tits, occasionally coal tits and long tailed tits. We have magpies, jays, song thrushes and blackbirds and of course squirrels, they destroyed two of my feeders almost immediately, it’s very hard to keep them off the feeders, but great to watch, but the greatest thrill for me and some of the other residents are the hedgehogs. I had seen one out the front late one night, so I knew they were present, then luckily a new gate was installed in the side wall, the gap underneath was big enough for hedgehogs to get through, and sure enough, in mid-March I noticed two on the grass.

I went straight up to the shop and got some dog food and put some out the next night and kept a watch from the upstairs landing. It wasn't long before I was treated to the life of hogs. On some nights I have counted four in the garden at once, I have watched them mating, and having their tiffs over food, they ram into each other like dodgems, and the loser will just curl up and wait until the threat has gone and then carry on eating.

I have put a hedgehog house under some shrubs, and they have been inside and flattened the hay that I put in, I just hope one will use it to hibernate when the time comes, until then, I shall continue to put food out for them. Nationally they are in trouble, thanks to our destruction of hedgerows, so any help, is a good thing. They have brightened up mine and many others experience of this lockdown, and long may they continue to do so".

carder bee2