Garden animals in winter: how can you help?

Animals have a particularly difficult time in the cold season. We show the simple means that can be used to help the small animals through the winter.

Freezing cold, icy wind and little food - the winter poses a special challenge for native animals. For this reason, birds in particular flee to the south, 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, they introduce the lack of food and the lack of opportunities to retreat in the garden Extremely difficult problems, which fortunately have been solved by us humans with a few simple tricks can be. Find out here how you can best give the animals a hand in winter.

In winter the garden often looks empty and uninhabited. In fact, only a few animals are looking to flee south - only Migratory birds such as swallows and warblers, as well as some species of butterflies such as the admiral, set out on the arduous journey. Most of the other animals, however, stay in the garden and try to brave the winter here.

These animals overwinter in the garden

The most present are probably those Resident birds like sparrows, Little Redlet or Magpieswho present their acrobatic flying skills in the garden even in winter. But also squirrels and raccoons can be seen on the lawn from time to time when they wake up from their winter dormancy to fill their stomachs. Hedgehogs and dormice are almost never seen in winter, because they keep their hibernation well hidden - yet they are often guests in the garden unnoticed.

Anyone who can offer an old barn or a dark shed also likes to accommodate the bat in winter, which avoids snow and cold as far 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 remain in their earth tubes and wild bees like to spend the winter in the dead wood. Only they can be really annoying Ladybug are attracted by the warmth, they often find themselves in the cracks around the window and infiltrate our apartments.

Make the garden animal-friendly in winter

As different as the different garden animals may be, many have the same demands, especially in winter. Lucky - gardeners who want to make their property animal-friendly in winter can make several animal species happy at the same time. Plants like the mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) or Wild roses (pink), which also bear fruit in winter, not only look wonderful, but also provide a good source of food for birds and other herbivores in particular.

But you only make a lot of animals really happy if you don't keep your garden meticulously tidy: Natural gardens with piles of leaves, dead wood and perennials that have not been cut back are ideal hiding places for insects, but birds and hedgehogs will also find suitable winter quarters here. Garden sheds and tool sheds are particularly popular - especially insects like the ladybird or Butterflies, but also dormice or bats use the warm places with preference as protection from the Weather.

Help hedgehogs in winter

Hedgehogs are welcome guests in the garden, after all, they not only look funny, but also like to eat pests such as Snails. In winter, however, the hedgehog is dependent on our help, because it needs suitable quarters in order to be able to keep its hibernation. Piles of leaves and brushwood are his preferred retreat, which is why it is worthwhile not to remove all leaves in the garden - this way you can offer the hedgehog a suitable shelter. But also dense hedges or a warm garden shed can serve as a suitable hedgehog hiding place.

If you want to be on the safe side, you can also buy a hedgehog house in a specialist shop or build it yourself: That Thanks to its insulation, a brick house is a perfect protection against cold and weather and can too in small gardens can be integrated inconspicuously. However, you should never check whether your house is actually inhabited - hedgehogs will turn out to be Awakened to their hibernation and driven from their hiding place, this can be a death sentence for the animals be. If you find particularly small hedgehogs in late autumn, however, a look at the scales won't do any harm: animals under 500 grams do not survive the winter on their own and should be pepped up before going into hibernation in consultation with the wildlife aid will. 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. In our special article on Support for hedgehogs in autumn you can find more information.

Helping birds in winter

Blue tit, Little Redlet and Wren - not all birds spend the winter in the warm south. But winter also poses some problems for the feathered neighbors, because especially the food is also in the bird-friendly garden often few and far between. It is therefore advisable to support the birds that have stayed here with some food in winter: a self-made bird feederin the garden is ideal to give the animals some food and at the same time offers the opportunity to observe the interesting creatures more closely. Make sure, however, that the birdhouse is as safe as possible from a cat, otherwise the kindly intended help will quickly turn into a death trap. Tit dumplings in the net are also a possible source of danger because the animals can get into them get tangled up - it is better to choose feed spirals, which are also hung in the trees can.

Our Plantura corn dumplings therefore manage entirely without plastic nets. The high-energy dumplings also consist of pure insect fat as well as valuable nuts, berries and seeds - for a rich feed of wild birds.

A little tip: A good basic food, which is eaten by almost all bird species, is sunflower seeds. But many birds are not only lacking in food; natural retreats such as caves and niches are also few and far between. This can be remedied by nesting boxes, which birds not only like to use for breeding, but also as protection from 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.

Squirrels help out in winter

Squirrels are great roommates in the garden, especially in autumn: the lively animals whiz from tree to tree in search of food and are particularly easy to observe. The reason for the laborious search for food is the approaching winter. Since squirrels do not hibernate in their kobel, but only hibernate, they have to stock up on energy-rich food in order to survive the cold season. Be ready Walnut tree (Juglans regia) or a Hazelnut bush (Corylus avellana) can help the small animals to replenish their food reserves. However, one is even better Feeding box for squirrels: Equipped with nuts and seeds, it helps the cute animals over bottlenecks in winter and ensures an adequate food supply.

Bees help in winter

Bees are probably the best known Beneficial insectsthat can be found in a garden and are therefore gladly supported by gardeners. In winter, in particular, the animals depend on human help: while honeybees can return to their hive, wild bees often lack natural opportunities to retreat. Since many wild bee species overwinter in hollow stems or dead wood, it is worthwhile to do the autumn cleaning in the To leave the garden out for once and to give a place in the garden to withered shrubs and old wood grant.

Insect hotels are also suitable for wintering 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 there is also something you can do for the wild bees before winter: ivy (Hedera helix) is ideally suited due to its late flowering to offer the bees one last feast before the grueling winter.

Butterflies and ladybirds help in winter

Butterflies in Germany have very different tactics in winter to survive frost and cold. Some species like the painted lady make their way south, others overwinter as eggs or larvae and some even as fully grown moths. So that butterflies like the swallowtail, which hangs as a pupa close to the ground, the winter survive, it is worthwhile not to cut back a few plants, but to stand them through the winter permit.

The peacock eye, which hibernates as an adult butterfly, is just as happy about a warm place as the one Ladybirds: Piles of brushwood or leaves offer protection to the animals, but the garden shed is also popular as a place of retreat. So that the animals can find refuge in this area, it is advisable to leave the window or skylight ajar in spring and autumn. The lemon butterfly, on the other hand, does not need any special help - thanks to its natural frost protection, the graceful butterfly can withstand temperatures as low as -20 ° C. Full details on how Hibernate butterflies, can be found in our special article.

Help amphibians in winter

Even if toads and frogs are definitely not everyone's favorite, they are a real asset in the garden, after all, they eat all kinds of pests. So that the useful animals survive the winter well, you can support them with a few tricks. Common toads hide in frost-free piles of leaves and compost as well as caves in the ground in winter. If you can offer these elements in your garden, you ensure that the chances of survival of the animals 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 come along on their search A suitable winter quarters are killed when crossing streets, others crawl into cellar shafts and in spring no longer manage to get by on their own to free. This can be remedied by special safety fences that either separate the street from the property or close off possible cellar hiding spots.

Many frog species, on the other hand, overwinter in water, for example on 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 does not completely freeze over, even in severe frost. Good oxygen saturation in the water is also important running filter pump or through reed grasses or special underwater plants can. On the other hand, breaking the top layer of ice should be avoided, as this leads to stress in the animals and can thus mean their death.

If you are now interested in the protection of animals in the garden, you will find our 8 tips for Conservation in the garden.