How to enjoy Halloween and Bonfire Night with these wildlife-friendly tips from the RSPB
With Halloween festivities and Bonfire Night preparations underway, we mustn’t forget about the wildlife on our doorsteps as the RSPB shares its top tips when planning for spooky celebrations.
Building a bonfire? Keep an eye out for hedgehogs!
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Bonfires, along with piles of twigs, leaves, branches and garden cuttings, create a cosy hibernation spot for sleepy hedgehogs so it’s important to take extra care when constructing and lighting yours.
The RSPB recommends building your bonfire on the day you plan to light it to avoid hedgehogs from moving in. Before setting alight, be sure to thoroughly check for any prickly residents first by lifting off sections or moving the entire mound to a new area of open ground before lighting at one corner to give hedgehogs time to escape.
These steps can help protect other wildlife that might also be sheltering in the bonfire – frogs, toads and newts enter a state of reduced activity to conserve energy so similarly seek out sheltered places during the colder months, especially at the base of your bonfire.
Disturbing hedgehogs can be critical for these small mammals as they can lose about a third of their body weight during hibernation – unnecessary movement uses up vital energy supplies and can put them in danger during cold snaps. Whilst they should be moved on from bonfires for their own safety, it’s best leaving Hedgehogs well alone in other parts of your garden to ensure they have a cosy winter.
If you want to offer Hedgehogs somewhere safe to hibernate, you can provide them with a hedgehog house. You can build one from scratch following instructions on the RSPB website, otherwise you can buy DIY kits or readymade houses from the RSPB Shop, along with suitable hedgehog food.
Keep wildlife in mind when setting off your firework display
To minimise disturbance, the RSPB encourages people to hold firework displays away from sensitive wildlife areas, such as nature reserves and bird and bat roosting sites. Birds need to conserve their energy ahead of winter and disturbing them could use up their precious energy stores.
When choosing a suitable location, it is important to consider proximity to trees, hedges and thick vegetation where birds may be sheltering. Additionally, whilst most birds won’t be nesting in autumn, the RSPB also suggests making sure fireworks are not set off near to nest boxes – some species, such as Wren and Blue Tit, will often roost in these throughout the colder weather.
Leave spooky webs to the spiders
Decorating homes for Halloween can certainly be a fun activity, but it’s always important to ensure outdoor decorations don’t pose a threat to wildlife. Whilst artificial spider webs that can be sprayed onto hedges and plants can look super spooky, birds can easily get their legs and wings tangled in the sticky material. Instead, look out for real webs spun by spiders – these look very eery in the moonlight and make a great natural Halloween feature.
Share the love with your pumpkin leftovers
With an estimated 10 million pumpkins grown for Halloween each year, we can all do our bit to reduce the waste caused by discarded carvings. While there are lots of recipes to make tasty dishes using the flesh, seeds and even skin, some wildlife can also enjoy this seasonal fruit.
As Mey Duek, RSPB wildlife expert, explains: “Don’t let your pumpkin go to waste after the Halloween festivities this year – instead you can share the love with the feathered friends in your garden by turning your pumpkin into a bird feeder. Place your pumpkin high up off the ground, out of reach of hedgehogs, and tidy up any remains once the fruit is past its best – eating pumpkin can cause hedgehogs to become unwell, so it’s best left for the birds.”
However you celebrate the spooky season, we can all help by bearing wildlife in mind this Halloween, Bonfire Night and beyond. If you want to find more ways to help the birds, mammals and other wildlife that visit your garden or greenspace, visit the RSPB website.
