Nature-friendly

Halloween

Keep nature in mind as you prepare for your annual Halloween and Bonfire Night festivities with the RSPB's advice for protecting wildlife whilst you celebrate

Want to ensure your Halloween and Bonfire Night celebrations keep local wildlife safe? It's easy with this simple guidance from the RSPB.

Make your pumpkin go the distance

Our national love for pumpkin carving is a given, with pumpkin-picking patches growing in popularity and an estimated 10 million pumpkins grown each year just for Halloween. Once you've created your pumpkin lantern, minimise food waste by using the pumpkin flesh and seeds. There are dozens of tasty recipes you can experiment with, from hearty, warming soups to the irresistible sweetness of a pumpkin pie – just make sure to check that your pumpkin is in good condition to cook with.

If the flavour isn't to your taste, you can still put your leftovers to good use by chopping the pumpkin up and scattering it into your compost pile. This is a much better option then taking your pumpkin to a nature reserve or woodlands for wildlife, as they can actually be harmful to some animals.

Let nature spin your webs  

Whilst artificial spider webs draped across hedges and plants might give a spooky atmosphere to your garden, for any visiting birds they can pose real danger, as they're all too easy for wings and legs to get tangled amongst. Instead, why not go on a Halloween hunt at dusk for the real deal, and spot spooky webs spun by the abundance of spiders visible at this time of year?

Keep wildlife in mind when setting off your firework display

If you're planning to light up the sky with a firework display, be sure to set these up away from any areas which might be home to wildlife – for instance bird and bat roosting sites, or a nearby nature reserve.

Birds could lose vital energy conserved for winter if they're disturbed by fireworks, so avoid close proximity to vegetation, trees and hedges which may be providing shelter to birds, as well as nest boxes which some species, such as blue tits and wrens, tend to use for roosting during cold weather.

Building a bonfire? Think hedgehogs!  

For hedgehogs, a well-prepared bonfire stack of branches, leaves and garden cuttings can bear a very close resemblance to an appealing hibernation spot!

If you can, try to hold off assembling your bonfire until the day before you plan to light it – this should lessen the likelihood of any hedgehogs, amphibians or invertebrates 'moving in'. Ideally, prior to lighting, the bonfire should be moved to a new patch of ground altogether, but if this isn't possible, it's recommended to carefully lift sections off the pile in order to thoroughly check for any unwitting inhabitants.

If you'd like to go the extra mile to help hedgehogs who might be visiting your garden, you could look to provide a hedgehog house. DIY kits or readymade houses are available to purchase from the RSPB Shop (alongside suitable food), or if you fancy building your own from scratch, you can find full instructions on the RSPB website to guide you through the process.

For more information on how to protect the birds, mammals and other wildlife that visit your garden or green space, visit the RSPB website.

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Photo by Nicole Bomar on Unsplash