Both girls have been asking lots of questions recently about animals and winter. Where have the birds gone? Why are the squirrels burying nuts in our garden? Where do Hedgehogs sleep? To help me answer these questions I took the girls to our local Yorkshire Wildlife trust to learn a little more about hibernation.
After listening to a talk on Hedgehogs and animals hibernating, the girls got to make their very own hedgehog out of clay and twigs
After they had made their hedgehog, they had to make somewhere for the hedgehog to hibernate
The hedgehogs have now been placed under the girls beds to keep them warm through the winter.
After making clay hedgehogs the girls got to meet two live hedgehogs, Kate weighed 1Kg and was the right weight for hibernation, sweep however only weighed 240g and was too little to hibernate. The girls could hold both so they got to understand the difference between a hedgehog at the right weight to hibernate and one underweight.
The girls are now really fascinated with the wildlife in our garden and how we can help them through the winter. As soon as we got home they demanded to fill the bird feeders full of wild bird seed ready for the birds for winter, and put some food out on our bird table for the squirrels.
I love that the girls are showing a real interest in nature and wanting to care more for the wildlife that comes into our garden. I have plans to make part of our garden and sensory and wildlife garden and am hoping they join me in designing it.
This day I love Hibernation and Winter
