Make space for nature
Do something for nature today!
What can YOU do for Scotland's nature?
There are a number of simple things that you can do to give nature a helping hand to protect our biodiversity and ensure Scotland has a nature-rich future.
This winter - help wildlife! Winter can be a challenging season for wildlife with harsh weather, low temperatures and much less food around. Our winter wildlife loves lazy gardeners at this time of year, and these quick and easy tips are great ways you can help our animals and birds.
Start straight away - watch our short videos and follow these tips for how YOU can #MakeSpaceForNature
Be a lazy gardener. Leaving some areas overgrown or filled with leaves and twigs gives insects, frogs, toads and small animals a quiet and cosy place to hide during the colder months.
Use your food scraps. Keep a food scraps tub by your cooker - any bits suitable to feed birds and other wildlife can go straight into it. Bruised or overly-soft fruit that may otherwise go to waste – or in the compost bin – can also be left out for badgers, foxes and birds. Cut the fruit in half and leave it on the grass or spike it on a tree branch. The blackbirds will love you for it.
Most people are aware white bread is a no-no for ducks – polluting the water and making them ill. But healthy snacks including corn – tinned, frozen, dried or fresh – lettuce and other greens cut into pieces will make you popular at your local duck pond this winter.
Garden ponds can be a great water source for passing wildlife but, when temperatures drop, ice can be tricky. A prolonged freeze can mean problems for fish and hibernating frogs and newts. Gently crack the ice to make a hole or float a ball in the water to help stop it freezing.
Leave your borders/ herbaceous plants intact with seed heads as many insects overwinter in their hollow stems- hold off chopping till spring.
Stop cutting your lawn sooner rather than later as longer grass provides some refuge and protection for shrews, voles and other small mammals and invertebrates.
Do a bit of cleaning – empty and clean bird boxes, feeders and baths prior to you starting feeding over winter by using some hot water, mild detergent and a brush to help keep your visitors healthy and happy.
It’s an ideal time to put up bird boxes which can be used overwinter as shelters for small birds and with a quick clean in late winter will be ready for the nesting season.
Remember to check areas for wildlife before carrying out any jobs and try to leave compost heaps, leaf and log piles undisturbed.
Use the winter time to curl up with a cup of tea and plan how to make your garden more nature friendly.
Please help and share our simple advice - help #MakeSpaceForNature
Do something for nature today!
We all benefit from nature in many ways – and we all have a role to play to creating a nature-rich future in Scotland. In 2020, we are inspiring more people to understand and care about biodiversity loss.
Our natural environment can provide a range of health and well-being benefits. Many people know that climate change is a big issue but not as many know that biodiversity loss is also a global threat to human well-being. We need a rich variety of life to be able to sustain food supplies, water and the air we breathe, among many of the benefits we get from nature.
Teacher, land manager or community group? We have tailored advice for what you can do for biodiversity on the platforms you have at hand.
You can help our pollinators all year round, even when you think they might be sleeping! Have a look at our advice on how to get busy (or buzzing).
Taking action on climate change is a big part of helping nature, and will bring benefits to all living things. Through making space for nature you're helping to store carbon in plants and soils.