Animals have a particularly hard time during the cold season. We show you the simple means you can use to help the little animals through the winter.
Freezing cold, icy wind and little food - the winter presents native animals with a special challenge. Birds in particular are fleeing south for this reason, where conditions are better in winter. The animals that stay in the garden in winter, on the other hand, go into hibernation or adapt to the harsher environmental conditions. In particular, the low food supply and lack of retreat in the garden present them with extremely difficult problems, which fortunately can be solved by us humans with a few simple tricks. Find out here how you can best help the animals in winter.
In winter, the garden often seems empty and uninhabited. In fact, only a few animals seek to flee south - only migratory birds such as swallows and warblers and some butterfly species such as the admiral make the arduous journey. However, most of the other animals stay in the garden and try to brave the winter here.
These animals spend the winter in the garden
The sedentary birds such as sparrows, robins or magpies are the most present and show off their acrobatic flying skills in the garden even in winter. But squirrels and raccoons can also be seen on the lawn from time to time when they wake up from hibernation to fill their stomachs. Hedgehogs and dormouse are almost never seen in winter, because they hibernate well hidden - nevertheless, they are often unnoticed guests in the garden.
Anyone who can offer an old barn or a dark shed also likes to house the bats in winter, which avoids snow and cold as much as possible. Even reptiles, amphibians and insects often spend the winter quietly and secretly in our gardens: toads and lizards seek shelter in holes in the ground, bumblebees stay in their burrows and wild bees like to spend the winter in deadwood. Only the ladybugs can be really annoying: They are often attracted by the heatin the cracks around the window and infiltrate our homes.
Designing the garden in winter animal-friendly
As different as the various garden animals may be, many have the same requirements, especially in winter. Fortunately - gardeners who want to make their property animal-friendly in winter can make several animal species happy at the same time. Plants such as mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) or wild roses (Rosa), which also bear fruit in winter, not only look wonderful, but also offer something special A good source of food for birds, but also for other herbivores.
Many animals are only really happy if you don't keep your garden meticulously tidy: natural gardens with piles of leaves, dead wood and shrubs that have not been cut back are ideal hiding places for insects, but birds and hedgehogs also find suitable winter quarters here. Garden sheds and tool sheds are particularly popular - insects such as ladybugs or moths, but also dormouse and bats prefer to use the warm places as protection from the weather.
Help hedgehogs in winter
Hedgehogs are welcome guests in the garden, after all they not only look funny, they also like to eat pests such as snails. In winter, however, the hedgehog is dependent on our help, because it needs suitable quarters to be able to hibernate. Heaps of leaves and brushwood are its preferred retreat, which is why it is worth not removing all the leaves in the garden - this way you can offer the hedgehog a suitable shelter. But dense hedges or a warm garden shed can also serve as suitable hedgehog hiding places.
If you want to be on the safe side, you can also buy a hedgehog house from a specialist shop or build it yourself: Thanks to its insulation, the little brick house is perfect protection against the cold and weather and can also be integrated unobtrusively in small gardens. However, you should never check whether your house is actually inhabited - if hedgehogs are awakened from their hibernation and driven out of their hiding place, this can be a death sentence for the animals. If you find particularly small hedgehogs in late autumn, a look at the scales can't hurt: animals weighing less than 500 grams will not survive the winter on their own and should be discussed withbe pampered by the wildlife aid before hibernation. However, milk must not be used - even if it is often recommended as food for hedgehogs, it is not suitable for the animals and can even make them sick. See our special article on supporting hedgehogs in the fall for more information.
Helping birds in winter
Blue tit, robin and wren - not all birds spend the winter in the warm south. But winter also poses some problems for the feathered neighbors, because food in particular is often scarce, even in bird-friendly gardens. It is therefore advisable to support the birds that have stayed here with some food in winter: A home-made bird feeder in the garden is ideal for giving the animals some food and at the same time offers the opportunity to observe the interesting creatures more closely. However, make sure that the aviary is attached as cat-proof as possible, otherwise the kindly meant help will quickly become a death trap. Fat balls in the net are also a possible source of danger, because the animals can get tangled up in them - it is better to choose feeding spirals, which can also be hung in the trees.
Our Plantura fat balls do not require any plastic nets at all. The energy-rich dumplings also consist of pure insect fat and valuable nuts, berries and seeds - for a rich feeding of wild birds.
A little tip: A good basic food, which is eaten by almost all bird species, are sunflower seeds. But not only do many birds lack food, there are also few natural retreats such as caves and niches. This can be remedied by nesting boxes, which the birds not only like to use for breeding, but also as protection against the weather in winter. So if you want to create new quarters for your garden birds, you shouldn't wait until spring, but look for a suitable location in autumn.
Helping the squirrels in winter
Squirrels are great roommates in the garden, especially in autumn: In search of food, the lively animals dart from tree to tree and are particularly easy to observe. The reason for the time-consuming search for food is the approaching winter. Because squirrels don't hibernate in their dens, only hibernate, they have to stock up on energy-richPut on food to survive the cold season. Even a walnut tree (Juglans regia) or a hazelnut bush (Corylus avellana) can help the little animals to replenish their food reserves. A feeding box for squirrels is even better: stocked with nuts and seeds, it helps the cute animals over bottlenecks in winter and ensures an adequate supply of food.
Helping bees in winter
Bees are probably the most well-known beneficial creatures that can be found in a garden and are therefore often supported by gardeners. In winter in particular, the animals are dependent on human help: while honey bees can return to their hive, wild bees often lack natural opportunities to retreat. Since many species of wild bees overwinter in hollow stalks or dead wood, it is worth skipping autumn cleaning in the garden and giving faded perennials and old wood a place in the garden.
Insect hotels are also suitable for overwintering in the garden - these should ideally be protected from the wind as much as possible. By the way, you can tell whether the individual corridors within the insect hotel are occupied by the lock that the insects put on at the entrance to their cabin. But you can also do something for the wild bees before winter: ivy (Hedera helix) is ideal due to its late flowering to offer the bees a last feast before the consuming winter.
Tip: Find out more about what bees do in winter in our special article.
Helping butterflies and ladybugs in winter
Butterflies in Germany have very different tactics in winter to survive frost and cold. Some species such as the painted lady make their way south, others overwinter as eggs or larvae and some even as adults. In order for butterflies such as the swallowtail, which hangs close to the ground as a pupa, to survive the winter, it is worth not cutting back a few plants but leaving them over the winter.
The peacock butterfly, which overwinters as an adult butterfly, is just as happy about a warm spot as the ladybug: piles of brushwood or leaves offer the animals protection, but the garden shed is also a popular choice as a retreat. So that the animals can find refuge in this, it makes sense to have windows orLeaving the roof hatch open a crack in spring and autumn. The brimstone butterfly, on the other hand, does not need any special help - thanks to its natural frost protection, the delicate butterfly can even survive temperatures of down to -20 °C. For detailed information on how butterflies hibernate, see our special article.
Helping amphibians in winter
Even if toads and frogs are not everyone's favourites, they are a real asset in the garden, after all they eat all kinds of pests. To ensure that the useful animals survive the winter well, you can support them with a few tricks. Common toads crawl into frost-free leaf and compost heaps and burrows in winter. Those who can offer these elements in their garden ensure that the animals' chances of survival increase considerably.
Unfortunately, the search for suitable accommodation is also the greatest risk for the small animals: During the so-called toad migration, numerous animals die when crossing roads in their search for suitable winter quarters, others crawl into cellar shafts and In the spring, they are no longer able to free themselves on their own. This can be remedied by special fences that either separate the street from the property or close off any hiding places in the basement.
Many frog species, on the other hand, overwinter in water, for example at the bottom of a garden pond. It should be noted that the pond must be at least one meter deep - this is the only way to guarantee that it will not freeze over completely, even in severe frost. Good oxygen saturation in the water is also important, which can be achieved when the water surface is frozen by running a filter pump or by using reeds or special underwater plants. On the other hand, breaking up the top layer of ice should be avoided, as this leads to stress for the animals and can therefore mean their death.
If you are still interested in protecting animals in the garden, you will find our 8 tips for nature conservation in the garden here.