All posts by Creative Woodcraft (Ian)

Butterflies

Including Butterflies in your garden

Butterflies

Imagine having a mini butterfly conservatory in your own back yard, or to be able to regularly experience beautiful butterflies dancing in your garden, in amongst the flowers and sun? It may seem a bit far-fetched, but in reality, butterfly gardening is an attainable goal. A perfect mix of gardening and interest in butterflies, this form of butterfly focused gardening is a practical way to be involved in butterfly conservation, as well as raising pollinator awareness.

Buterfly Shelter Feeder 7

By creating attractive environments for pollinators in an urban setting, you are providing essential habitat for butterflies, birds and bees. These essential habitats may not be readily available in a setting such as a new subdivision, unless otherwise provided or helped to develop.

Butterfly gardens are not substitutes for wild habitat, but are important in their own right and certainly do contribute to the survival of butterflies.

Butterflies are very interesting and beautiful to observe and when you create and foster a garden that includes butterflies you are set to experience a piece of pure, wild nature in your own backyard!

Take time to plan and plant in 5 easy steps!

Step 1: Be familiar with butterfly species in your area.

One important first step is to identify the kinds of butterflies that tend to normally live near your home. This can be done by observing butterflies in the area yourself, or by consulting a butterfly ID guide. By determining what kinds of butterflies are present, you will be better able to plant the appropriate nectar plants, and important larval food sources.

Step 2: Design for sunshine and shelter.

Butterflies love the sun. Your garden must have enough sunlit areas to attract them and keep them warm and active. Although the vast majority of butterflies like to bask in the sun, some are shade-loving butterflies and will benefit from garden areas protected from the sun. An ideal butterfly garden should also have areas that provide shelter from the wind. Consider providing a purpose built butterfly shelter giving migrating and hibernating butterflies a helping hand by providing them a place to live. When butterflies migrate they need to find shelter from bad weather. Usually they seek shelter in cracks of trees or buildings. Some butterflies will hibernate in the winter and need shelter to protect them from winter cold.

Buterfly Shelter Feeder 6

This butterfly house gives migrating and hibernating butterflies a helping hand by providing them a place to live.

Creative Woodcraft offers purposely designed butterfly houses that will provide habitat for migrating and hibernating butterflies. Butterflies will thrive better if they do not have to fight strong wind while feeding on nectar or while looking for plants on which to lay their eggs. Trees and shrubs can act as wind barriers and still be aesthetically pleasing in a garden.

Step 3: Plant nectar food sources.

Support  nzButterfly.info. 
1 It keeps the website online
2 It gives you a way to experience the magic of butterflies close up plus do your small part towards conserving and promoting the population growth of New Zealand’s butterflies.

As adults butterflies not only love the sun, they also love the nectar of flowers, a sweet substance that makes up their diet. Design your garden so that it has blooming plants from late spring to early autumn. A continual supply of flowers is essential to accommodate different butterflies, appearing at different times, with specific preferences. Also try to plant a variety of nectar rich flowers, such as the butterfly favourites of buddleia (butterfly bush),milk weed, and black-eyed susan. Hybrid garden varieties, such as those of roses and lilies, are not usually a good choice of flower because they tend to be low in nectar content. Butterflies will be attracted to even a small area if it is dense with nectar sources, shortening the search time for nutrition. Butterflies are often attracted to large and bright red, orange, yellow, pink, blue or purple flowers. Plants that have a trumpet or tube shaped flower and have a landing platform for the insect are desirable. Such flowers include zinnia, goldenrod, honeysuckle and daisy.

Step 4: Plant larval food plants.

Female butterflies are often very particular about where they lay their eggs, and will often spend a long time searching for the right plant. If you can make such plants available, such as milkweed, aster, lupine, violets and black-eyed susans, they should guarantee butterfly attendance, and the occurrence of a whole butterfly life cycle. The newly hatched caterpillar, or larva will feed on the food source and when they have turned into an adult butterfly it is most likely they will stay to feed on the garden’s nectar sources.

A butterfly garden can also be a mix of flowers and vegetables. For example planting carrots, parsnips, or dill should encourage certain butterflies. The butterfly larvae will likely devour these vegetables, so it would be wise to set apart another vegetable patch to grow food for your own consumption. Weedy plants, such as thistles or nettles, on which some butterflies feed, are also in demand. Such plants should not be dismissed and can be put in the back of the butterfly garden, away from any visiting people. Certain trees and shrubs, such as willows, and cherries, are larval food and can also serve as wind blocks and shelter. Once again, it is important to educate yourself about which butterflies are most likely to appear in your area, so that you can cater to their specific food needs, as larva and adults.

Step 5: Stop pesticide use.

Using pesticides will kill butterflies, as well as other important and beneficial insects. Please refrain from using pesticides, and if a problem arises, try an organic alternative.

Bees

Introduction to the fascinating world of our native bee pollinators

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Purchasing a solitary bee house from www.creativewoodcraft.co.nz is your introduction to the fascinating world of our native bee pollinators. It has
been specially designed to attract a variety of gentle, non-stinging native and introduced solitary bee species that nest from early spring through
summer. They might not make honey, but they are extremely efficient pollinators, and your garden will explode with color and produce as a result.

Check out our Special…. Everything to get you started!!

Solitary Bee House Package Deal! (Limited Time Only)

solitary bee house Creative Woodcraft

We can email you a  seasonal Newsletter: that really simplifies it for you by letting you know what you could or should be doing with your native  bees during each season of the year. If you’re interested in receiving it, go to our web site and click on Newsletter, to sign up. Thank you for your interest in our native bee pollinators!

We offer a FREE  full installation guide (https://creativewoodcraft.co.nz/blog/solitary-bee-house-instructional-guide/

And Register to receive our FREE e-book BEES

Birds

Bird Baths – Positioning & Maintenance

How to Postion and Maintain your Bird Bath

Bird Bath - Hanging - Creative Woodcraft NZ

Location

Bird baths should be placed in a location where cats and other predators are not lurking. Place your hanging bird bath where the birds are able to have a clear view all around. When birds’ feathers are wet and heavy they cannot fly as well. It is suggested to keep at least 1 meter of open space all around, giving the birds the ability to see danger approaching and have enough time to fly away.

A great place to locate a hanging bird bath is under overhanging branches of a tree, as this gives a place for birds to fly to quickly if they are in danger.

For birds to see predators approaching, birds should have clear visibility over the edge of the bird bath as they bathe.

If the bowl is too deep, certain birds will be afraid to enter the bird bath and will remain on the edge only using it for drinking water. The hanging bird bath by Creative Woodcraft is designed with this in mind.

Maintenance and Cleaning

A bird bath requires regular maintenance. Maintenance can be as simple as a daily quick wash and refill, but it does depend on the type of bird bath.

Cleaning your bird bath is important because of the possible adverse health effects of birds drinking dirty water. Concrete bird baths tend to become mossy and, therefore, slippery—requiring an occasional scrubbing out with a stiff brush.

The hanging bird bath by Creative Woodcraft is designed with a removable stainless steel bowl for easy access and cleaning, and has good integrated drainage surrounding the bowl preventing the build-up of stagnant water.

So Remember

  • Plan you location carefully (away from lurking cats).
  • Use a shallow bowl or dish.
  • Keep you product clean (especially if it’s concrete).
Birds

Feeding Our Feathered Friends

Feeding Our Feathered Friends

Feeding the birds – bird-feeders can be an important source of food for our local bird species during the winter.

Feeding the birds

Many native and introduced bird species can be attracted to feeding stations in gardens around New Zealand. In order to provide the right food for them however, it is important to know what sort of food they naturally eat. Nectar, seeds, insects or a combination of foods.

The nectar-eaters

Tui, bellbirds and wax eyes all have a ‘sweet-tooth’ – figuratively speaking, that is! They love sipping the nectar from our native flowering plants. Over the winter we can supplement these natural sources by providing a nectar substitute such as sugar-water, or the syrup from canned fruit. These birds also love fresh fruit, and can be attracted easily to apples, oranges and even bananas! that have been hung or around the home and garden  using an apple / fruit / suet feeder (you can skewer these whole or in pieces on your feeder just make sure you cut some nicks in the skin of the fruit so they are able to get at the flesh) that can be purchased at Creative Woodcraft’s online store.

To make nectar water, mix half a cup of sugar with 500ml of hot water. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved and then put in the fridge to cool. If desired, add two drops of red food colouring, as this will help to attract the Tui (they love red!). Pour some of this mixture into a hanging feeder and place in a tree or on a post.

The seed-eaters

Greenfinches can be attracted to your garden by providing bird seed for them in a hanging feeder. You can buy special wild bird mixes from the supermarket (in the pet food aisle), although budgie seed is just as good – they’re not too fussy!

The insect-eaters

Insect-eating birds like fantails are a little more difficult to attract directly to bird-feeding stations. They can be drawn indirectly, however, to the small fruit flies that gather around pieces of apple or other fruit, hanging in apple / fruit / suet feeders, obtained from Creative Woodcraft’s online store.

The ‘omnivores’

Sparrows are principally seed-eaters, but over time they have developed a more

Omnivorous diet and will eat a wide variety of seeds, fruit, food scraps and insects. Similarly, while wax eyes are mostly nectar-feeders, they are also partial to certain fruit and food scraps, as are greenfinches. A great way to keep all these birds happy and healthy during the winter is to make a ‘bird pudding’. Bird puddings combine a lot of different ingredients that will provide valuable calories to help sustain our feathered friends over the colder months.

Visit our website to view our great range of bird feeders and other garden accessories. All our items are individually handcrafted with love and care right here in New Zealand.

Feeding & Bird Feeders - Creative Woodcraft NZ

 

Birds

Birds – Encouraging Birds Into Your Garden

Encouraging Wild Birds

Bird Feeder - Creative Woodcraft NZ

 

Want to encourage more wild birds into your garden? Not sure what bird feeder, bird table or bird house to use? Well this article should help answer these common questions.

Feeding the birds is vital for encouraging wildlife into our gardens. A common myth is that you should only feed wild bird at certain times, but actually it’s ok to feed our feathery garden friends all year round (especially in winter). Just as we need to put the thermals on ourselves during the winter, birds also need a thermal layer (of fat) to keep warm on those winter days. This is also the time when natural food is in short supply, especially nowadays when suburbs are growing, people seem to have tidier gardens and changes to farming methods.

There are many bird feeders to choose from at Creative Wood Craft. Choosing one that is suitable for your garden is very much down to personal choice and common sense.
A good bird table should last 10 years or so, look for bird tables that are made from good solid timber that has been constructed using exterior grade fixings and adhesives that will endure the variations in New Zealand weather. Some of the thinner plastic bird tables often go brittle and crack! Instead go for a bit of long lasting quality. Check that the table has good drainage holes otherwise the food will become soggy.

Make sure you place or hang your bird table in an open site away from easy access by predators, especially cats. If you are going to mount your bird table on a pole, use a straight smooth pole as they are much harder for cats to climb.

At Creative Wood Craft we offer a range of hanging bird feeders, the window mounted bird feeders prove very popular and attract a great deal of smaller birds, and it does mean you can watch them at very close quarters.

Some birds prefer feeding on the ground, so with some of my bird feeders I always put a few bits of food in a tray on the lawn. This will attract blackbirds, thrushes, magpies and sometimes the good old pigeon! (On many occasions I have seen one or two fat pigeons trying to balance on a hanging feeder) Always a comical sight!!

My general advice is to put a variety of feeding stations out with a variety of foods.

All our bird tables, bird houses and bird feeders at Creative Wood Craft are handmade in New Zealand with all these points in mind.