Rosendale Nature Garden

Although harder to find than in previous years, hedgehogs are a native British species who wisely decide to find a covering of leaves and hibernate during the worst of the winter months. Using clay and other objects found around the nature garden, the children have enjoyed making their own hedgehogs which could certainly grace the Christmas dinner table!

We placed a wildlife camera in the nature garden over the weekend and got some shots of mammals (foxes and a squirrel). We'll try and locate it in a more bird-friendly area next weekend and see what we can find.

 We humans might not appreciate the damp rainy conditions and darker days of the autumn but they have provided fantastic conditions for fungi. 

Looking ahead to the arrival of Chaffinches from Denmark later this year, we used conker shells and other devices to mould bird feed into.

For the last couple of weeks we've been watching autumn gradually take hold and thinking about the animals which hibernate over winter. Using sticks and autumn leaves we have built "hibernation hotels" for ground beetles and lacewings which will be hung from trees and hopefully attract some winter guests.