Kids special: Autumn means new wildlife - here's how to build a wildlife friendly farm for visiting creatures

Farmers Guardian's new monthly children's special is here, and it is all about nature this season

clock • 1 min read
Hedgehogs are in decline. Make your garden and farm creature friendly this autumn
Image:

Hedgehogs are in decline. Make your garden and farm creature friendly this autumn

Autumn has arrived, and with a new season comes new wildlife. Get outside and make your garden and farm as wildlife friendly as possible with these top tips.

In autumn watch out for:

  • Hedgehogs
  • Barn owls
  • Dormouse

Make yourself a checklist and let us know what you see.

See also: Growing vegetables with children - how to start and what to grow

Have a wildlife friendly farm

Create a haven for wildlife in your garden or farm by making homemade birdfeeders and hedgehog houses.

Birdfeeder

You will need:

  • Peanut butter
  • An apple
  • Birdseed mix
  • Twine or string
  • To make:

Halve the apple and scoop the core out

Make a small hole in the top of each so you can add the string through

Fill the each half with a mixture of peanut butter and birdseed

Hang outside

Hedgehog house

You can make a very simple hedgehog house by getting a large plastic container and cutting out a large entrance space. Cover in plastic sheeting and camouflage in leaves, soil and grass cuttings. Make the inside hedgehog friendly too, by adding leaves and soil inside.

TOP TIP: leave a stick by the entrance, and if it moves you will know you have had a prickly visitor!

Please send you pictures of your wildlife creations to [email protected]

More on Farm Life

Tributes paid to respected agricultural journalist Mike Green

Tributes paid to respected agricultural journalist Mike Green

Mike Green has died aged 68

clock 30 April 2026 • 1 min read
Family farms feel 'battled and bullied' as pylons and pipeline schemes threaten livelihoods

Family farms feel 'battled and bullied' as pylons and pipeline schemes threaten livelihoods

Calls for rural fight back as proposals put farmers at risk of losing their land and their homes

clock 30 April 2026 • 5 min read
Inside a Scottish farm running 2,000 ewes, suckler cows and a growing tourism business

Inside a Scottish farm running 2,000 ewes, suckler cows and a growing tourism business

The Duncan family have beef and sheep enterprises across three farms, with a hill unit at one end of Loch Lomond and two lowland holdings at the other end

Wendy Short
clock 30 April 2026 • 7 min read