Outside your home
Here you can find answers to some of the most common questions asked by customers.
Avoid walking on your new lawn for 2-4 weeks (depending on the time of year) and avoid pets soiling the lawn as it will damage it. Avoid cutting your lawn for around 4 weeks and then with a blade height of 4-5cm. A light roll is then recommended.
Wildlife features that may be included on your development, include:
Your fence may include a small hedgehog hole. This has been created deliberately to enable hedgehogs to move around the development to find food. If possible, please keep this opening clear. No maintenance is required.
Read more about hedgehogs and hedgehog highways at www.hedgehogstreet.org
Bee bricks provide places for solitary bees to nest, and bug hotels cater to a wider variety of insects including hover flies. These insects do not sting. There is no requirement to clean out a bee brick or bug hotel but doing so once a year may create a better home for the bees and insects. If you do clean them, then do so after the nesting season has finished in October.
Read more about how to help pollinators at www.buglife.org.uk/
These provide a roosting place for bats. Once bats have moved in, a bat box can only be opened, moved or disturbed by someone with the right licence. This is the case all year round, even if the bats are only in residence for part of the year.
Read more about bats at www.bats.org.uk
These provide nesting places for birds and are likely to be used in the spring and early summer. The RSPB recommend that old nests be removed in the autumn, from September onwards once the birds have stopped using the box. Use boiling water to kill any parasites, and let the box dry out thoroughly before replacing the lid. Insecticides and flea powders must not be used.
Read more about the birds you might see in your garden at www.rspb.org.uk/
