All ok with the mammals, after taking out mature hedge

[jpscloud]

I took down a stand of leylandii this spring (having checked that there were no signs of bats using them as a roost) and have been working on piles of brushwood every weekend since then. I also had a woodpile and some scrubby waste that I had kept as wildlife refuges that had to be cleared to put in the new hedging plants. I've made new woodpiles and scrubby areas along another fence.

I was really worried that I'd disturbed flight and feeding patterns for the bats, and as there's a new bit of fencing along the leylandii stumps to stop small dogs getting in while my pyracantha/holly/honeysuckle/ivy hedge gets going, I was concerned about hedgehog access as well.

On Saturday night I managed a really good evening of garden watching, from the swifts at dusk to a large and vocal hedgehog snuffling past my feet and scoffing something under the bird feeders. The bats were also flying around my garden as though nothing had happened... whew!

[artdemole]

Nice to some of the wild life back already. Perhaps something different can now be seen.

[Dogghound]

Its highly unlikely that bats would roost in a leylandii hedge. The main issue is breeding birds at this time of year. Sounds like the new hedge will be far better.