Autumn Wildlife Walk

Autumn is a fantastic time to go out on a walk – there’s lots of wildlife about. It is the time of year when animals start gathering food for winter hibernation. It can get too cold to come out during winter so many animals will be starting to store food to eat if they wake up during the winter months.

Watch out for squirrels digging, birds picking berries or any other wildlife looking for a winter tasty snack. If you are walking through a forest look for holes in the tree that animals might be sleeping in.

During winter animals are cold and tired so why not help them out by:

• building a bug hotel ( like Jenga with sticks and twigs )
• building a bird nest made from dry hay
• building a hedgehog hide ( a hollow box full with hay )
• simple fill a hole in a tree with acorns inside for squirrels!

Be thoughtful and ambitious. The harder you try the more of a chance you will see an animal nesting inside. If you are lucky and your nest is good enough later in the year an animal might have babies in there!

Also, look carefully for opportunities to get hay, a freshly mowed lawn, sticks off trees or any thing that might keep them warm. And when you are eating your Christmas dinner look outside and just think of an animal you might have helped sleeping in your den!

By Ella