Gardeners who invest in one of the many artificial shelters sold to help wildlife get through the winter may be wasting their money, according to a survey by consumer magazine Which? Gardening.
The magazine spent a year testing six types of wildlife haven placed in 10 different gardens, including lacewing chambers, ladybird hotels and a hedgehog hibernation box carrying price tags of between £9.99 and £69. They found most remained completely empty.
The most successful products were the £15.99 solitary bee hibernation logs, two of which were visited during the trial. However, a home-made version made for hardly any cost out of untreated softwood, pictured left, drilled with varying diameters of hole was twice as popular, visited in four of the 10 gardens.
RHS Chief Entomologist Andrew Halstead said wildlife prefers to find its own nest sites, especially bumblebees, ladybirds and lacewings.
‘Wildlife is pretty good at looking after itself over the winter period,’ he said. ‘There is no shortage of suitable shelters in the countryside and in urban gardens. Why seek out a small box when you can settle down in the centre of a Leylandii hedge?’
Mild winters, he said, are far more of a threat to wildlife than lack of shelter, bringing creatures out of their resting places prematurely so that they use up their food reserves before spring arrives.
Source: RHS
