Create animal shelters
Insect hotel
Besides the well-known honey bee, there are many other species of bees that do not live in colonies. Called solitary bees, they are a group of white-winged insects that live a solitary but varied lifestyle. Most of these bees nest in various cavities and crevices (e.g. old trees). The lack of these natural habitats has led to the number of these bees decline. However, we can easily create a so-called insect hotel for them.
This is a simple wooden structure filled with various materials containing cavities 3-8 mm in diameter. They can be made of hollow straws, but also pre-drilled into a piece of wood or un/baked brick. The more varied the better. There are many possibilities and the result depends on our creativity. We just have to remember that the hollows must be impenetrable. It means, that the back wall of the insect hotel must be full.
This shelter can be placed anywhere above the ground. After a while, the bees will find the hotel and occupy it regularly. To defend against predators, rabbit netting can be placed on the front wall to prevent larvae and straws from being pulled out of the hotel.
Bumblebee shelter
Bumblebees are able to pollinate plants in our gardens at much lower temperatures than bees. However, many bumblebee queens do not find suitable shelter for nesting in spring and subsequently die.
The bumblebee shelter should meet several basic parameters. It is usually a wooden cube or block of approximately 30 × 30 × 30 cm with a removable roof so that the bumblebee house can be conveniently cleaned after the season. Behind the inlet opening is an important tube (corridor) that both simulates a natural nesting site and also protects the bumblebees from predators. We should not forget about ventilation – small holes near the roof or a larger hole covered with netting. Line the inside of the bumblebee house with some felt (sheep wool, flax, hemp).
If we want to „catch“ the queen in the bumblebee house, we need to place it low to the ground, as bumblebees usually use various rodent burrow.
Hedgehog shelter
Hedgehogs usually stay in piles of leaves over winter. To make overwintering easier, you can create a hedgehog house. This is a box measuring approximately 30 × 30 × 30 cm with a 20 × 15 × 50 cm walkway.
Place the whole box on the ground and cover it with a pile of leaves so that only the opening of the corridor sticks out. It is advisable to partially fill the inside with hay or leaves to save the hedgehogs work.
This will not only make it easier for the hedgehogs to hibernate, but they will also be happy to raise their youngs in this shelter. This is more successful than in a „mere“ pile of leaves.
Snake refuge
How to get rid of unwanted rodents? Set up a snake refuge and attract the collared viper to your property. The snakes are not shy and will get right into the burrows where they raise the youngs. This will significantly reduce rodent numbers. Especially with gnawing problems, this measure can be highly recommended.
At first glance, the tube looks like a larger compost heap with a 2 × 2 m footprint. The walls of the tube can be either 3 × 3 cm mesh mesh or some beams with a gap of three centimetres between them – so that the slugs can squeeze through, but not the predators feeding on their eggs.
Place branches of different sizes at the bottom of the enclosure, a layer of paper on top, then a layer of branches and paper again, and organic material – soil, grass, leaves, sawdust, etc. Repeat this layering over and over until the entire tube is filled.
And then we just wait. For the first year, as a rule, nothing happens. The second year, we may encounter various invertebrates or lizards. It’s not until two years after the tube has been established that we find the eggs of the dragonfly – they resemble ping-pong balls. And that’s when you can also say goodbye to the gnawers and other rodents you no longer see on your property.
Dry wall
A pile of stones represents a valuable biotope for many animals. And if we would like to turn this pile into a useful wall that will help us, for example, strengthen the slope, we will also appreciate it. This is an element that used to be quite common in our landscape and we can see it today in many places. Many species of reptiles and insects use dry walls, stone surfaces and the cracks between them.
Drywall construction is not complicated, but very tedious. So that the wall does not soon become a heap of stones, we must stack the individual stones so that they are „bonded“ – the stones in each next row overlap the joint between the stones below them. At the same time, as many crevices as possible must be filled with smaller stones so that no stone tends to move. It requires careful picking of stones and it resembles a complex puzzle, or rather Tetris. However, the result is definitely worth it!
Crutch for the birds of pray
Crutches for predators can be a very useful tool in landscapes without solitary trees. The simplest installation is shown in the picture below. It is important to use a stake made of durable wood (oak, acacia) to drive it into the ground so that the crutch does not have to be repaired or replaced every two years. Especially in landscapes with overpopulated rodents, this element can help with their reduction.
Shrubs
People today like a neat and tidy landscape, which is not good for shrubs. And neither do many species of animals that need shrubbery for their lives. What is a neat and tidy landscape for us is a dangerous landscape for many species, where they can’t hide. That is why it is very important to plant shrubs that will make the landscape safer for many animals. And humans don’t have to come up short either. For example, we can plant dogwoods, hawthorn and mirabelles with edible fruits, or even hawthorn trees, which were traditionally used for making beads (not only) for rosaries. Ideally, plant shrubs between trees in various avenues and tree rows around dirt roads.
Flowery meadows
There are hundreds of hectares of grassland in towns and villages. Many of them have to be mowed and irrigated several times a month during the summer. If we were to look at such areas through the lens of different animals, they would look like a green desert.
However, many representatives of municipalities and towns as well as local associations are already aware of this, and we can observe a growing trend of flowering strips on municipal land. Which is great news! It has several effects – flower patches don’t have to be mowed as often (usually only twice a year), the beauty of the flowers brightens up any plot of land, and it provides shelter and grazing for various pollinators and other invertebrates. There are many ‚meadow mixes‘ on the market, so the choice is very wide, but should be adapted to local conditions. It is better to sow meadow grasses on heavier and wetter soils in spring; for sandy, dry soils, opt for autumn sowing.