Garden wildlife is flourishing at this time of year, with birds flitting in and out of boxes or nests in hedges and trees, flowers providing food for pollinators and bats foraging for insects at dusk.
If you can, leave your lawn (or at least a patch of it) unmown, allowing flowers like daisies and dandelions to grow for pollinators and letting the longer grass provide a great habitat for insects (and feeding ground for hedgehogs and slow worms).
Lots of birds will have chicks fledging at this time of year, and you might spot the young birds skulking around learning to fend for themselves in low plants or trying to beg one last meal from their parents. If you do come across a fledgling on its own please leave it where it is. The best possible chance these young birds have is to be near their parents. Keep dogs and cats indoors for as long as possible and hopefully they will be ok; some might not make it but sadly that is the rawer side of nature.
If you have heard birdsong in your garden or out and about that you can’t quite identify the Alderney Wildlife Trust have a dawn chorus walk on Saturday 4th May at 5am, with some tips from our avian ecologist on what to listen our for during the dawn chorus. International Dawn Chorus Day is the 5th May and is around when the dawn chorus traditionally reaches its peak so do try and get up early and listen – each dawn chorus is a one-off with no two days the same!
