September 2017
n FEATURES
southbristolvoice
butterflies to thrive?
Who’s willing to help Alex make more Highways for Hedgehogs?
H Above, the oak beauty (PHOTO: Megan Lowe); inset, mint moth on catmint ask for a visit from the project by contacting project officer Matt Brierley on mbrierley@butterflyconservation.org School grounds across South Bristol are now enriched with a range of special plants that are prefect for caterpillars and other pollinators. I teamed up with Matt as part of South Bristol Voice’s My Wild Bedminster school visits, and we saw a huge amount of enthusiasm from the children. Matt and one of his volunteers, UWE student Riley Cook, recounted one visit to Holy Cross RC primary school in Bedminster, armed with forks and spades. Matt and Riley delivered an assembly for all the children, and were met by a surprise: “As a kid I went to a Catholic primary so I know all the words to “If I were a butterfly”. I never imagined I’d have a whole school sing it at me
though!” said Matt. He added: “Plants duly planted, a fortnight later I was back, seeing what the kids had remembered and keen to see what caterpillars they’d caught as ‘homework’. “They’d been a pleasure to meet… but would they remember what a moth uses its antennae for? I brought up a slide of a fairly drab moth. ‘Oh!’ said a child, unable to contain themselves: ‘Look! The oak beauty!’ It wouldn’t surprise me if that child remembered that 30 years from now.” • If you missed taking part in this year’s Big Butterfly Count, you can still add your records to our My Wild Bedminster iSpot page, where anyone can post photos of wildlife spotted in BS3, here: • ispotnature.org/communities/ uk-and-ireland/view/project/ 711283/my-wild-bedminster
FEED THE BUTTERFLIES EACH butterfly species needs specific food plants. To help a range of species in your garden, Butterfly Conservation recommends making room for some of these: long grasses, nettles, bird’s foot trefoil, kidney vetch, garlic mustard, honesty, buckthorn, honeysuckle, thistles, burdock, sloe, sorrel, wild thyme, holly, ivy, primrose, broom, rock rose, agrimony, nasturtium and heather, yarrow, wild marjoram, betony, ox-eye daisy and lavender. More advice: • butterfly-conservation.org/ files/caterpillar-food-plants.pdf
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ERE’S a prickly predicament - maybe you can help? Voice writer and ecologist Alex Morss has appealed to residents to make a small hole in their garden wall or fence before the autumn, as she steps up efforts to make South Bristol more hedgehog friendly. Alex has been caring for rescued hedgehogs for rereleasing back into their urban habitat, but points out that they cannot be released locally unless more habitat is made available. “In this area they rely on a patchwork habitat of connected gardens, so a small effort, by making a 13 x 13cm hole in your garden wall to give them access, can multiple their food and shelter sites many times over,” said Alex. “This makes a huge difference to their chance of success. Each hog needs to be able to roam a very large area to meet its needs. Hedgehog populations have fallen significantly but you can easily help improve their outlook.” She has put letters through doors near her home in Windmill Hill and appealed on social media for people to make a hole for a Hedgehog Highway – basically knock out one brick or make a fence gap. Her hedgehog recovery effort supports local hedgehog rescue charities and follows on from a project run last year with Avon Wildlife Trust in which many
10 WAYS TO HELP HOGS
Wild chicory and long grass in Perrett’s Park PHOTOS: Alex Morss
1. ACCESS: Really important! Make a wall/fence hole 13 x 13cm, or leave your gate open. 2. SHELTER: Make safe hiding places under sheds, piles of compost, leaves and sticks, wild scrubby corners. 3. POISONS: If hedgehogs can get in your garden, please don’t use slug pellets or pesticides. Even organic ones are bad for hogs. 4. INJURY: Be mindful when mowing or digging to avoid accidental injury to hidden hogs.
Recovering: Minnie broke her leg residents borrowed special tunnels to survey the hedgehog population - confirming they are living across the area. She said: “In recent weeks we’ve been caring for Houdini, a poorly juvenile male hog, who was determined to escape once he was fit and healthy again, which was great to see, and he has now made his way off into the night. We are still looking after Minnie. She broke her leg in a mousetrap, but is doing well and has now built herself a cosy nest in my garden. She too will go back to the wild when she is ready.” More advice here: • hedgehogstreet.org • @hedgehogsociety • Avon Wildlife Trust will give a Hedgehog Highway plaque to anyone who makes a new access for hedgehogs. To claim your plaque, just ask Alex. She’d also like to hear from you if you have seen hedgehogs in BS3 or BS4. Email info@alexmorss.co.uk
Highway hero: A free plaque is on offer to hedgehog helpers 5. FOOD: Hogs eat caterpillars, beetles, slugs and worms, but also happily eat poultry flavour cat or dog food if you leave some out – not fish or dairy. 6. PONDS: Must have sloping sides so hogs can climb out if they fall in. 7. DOGS: Supervise night visits to the garden. 8. BONFIRES: Check bonfires before lighting them. 9. SACKS: Hedgehogs love hiding in sacks and rubbish piles, so check carefully before you move them. 10. FREEDOM: Make sure no hogs get trapped in your garden.
Got a story or any other inquiry? Call Paul on 07811 766072 or email paul@southbristolvoice.co.uk