The Garden at Night

Did you know that at night while you are asleep, your garden becomes the playground for a variety of animals?

The Bushy Tailed Fox

You may have even heard a shrill ferocious shrieking noise late at night in your garden. This could be the bushy tailed urban fox defending his territory from his rivals as he comes to scavenge food from the dustbin. He will leave evidence of his visits by scattering rubbish over your lawn as he noses in your bins and rubbish bags for tasty titbits. He will also leave a frightful pong behind to mark his territory. If you have a large garden and he thinks it is a good source of food, he may also stay awhile and dig himself a deep hole in a quiet corner where he can hide undisturbed for a nice daytime snooze.

The Hedgehog

Another night visitor is the prickly hedgehog who moves discreetly amongst plants searching for a juicy meal of insects, caterpillars, earthworms and slugs. The slugs might be munching on your parents' best plants, so the hedgehog is very much a visitor to be welcomed. Earwigs, which stay well hidden in crevices and cracks during the day, provide another tasty treat for hedgehogs. Just as well, your parents will say, as earwigs will often feast on the petals of their favourite flowers. Like the fox, the hedgehog may also make a permanent home in your garden, most likely in November when he is thinking of hibernating. He could be hiding under your compost heap or a pile of garden rubbish, so it is always worth checking before lighting a bonfire to make sure your don't accidentally turn him into a baked hedgehog! If you listen carefully, you might even hear him snoring.

Bats

If you are lucky there may be a bat roost near you, in a standing hollow tree trunk. Perhaps a bat or two will come insect hunting in your garden, although they will leave little evidence of their visit. You have probably seen a moth throwing itself against glass windows, attracted by the light. Many moths are nocturnal, and are difficult to see during the daytime (they close their wings and pretend to be dead leaves) and are one of the bats' favourite foods.

Cats

If you have a cat you will have noticed that he likes to join the night visitors in your garden searching for small mammals like mice, which he will enjoy playing with before finally going in for the kill. If you would like to help protect these little creatures you may want to put a bell around your cat's neck so that they know when he is on the prowl.

Why not take a look in your garden when you wake up in the morning and see if you can find any evidence of night time activity there. Do you have any unusual visitors to your garden like badgers? Are there any tell tale signs?.

WHO'S BEEN IN MY GARDEN?

Snow provides a wonderful blank canvas for footprints, so if we have some this winter you may want to look first thing in the morning to see who has visited your garden before you start making snowballs.

Percy the Night Prowler