A little but preemptive this, but we're hopefully buying a house at auction on Friday which comes with 1/4 acre of land on the otherside of the road.
This land is woodland with a stream (sometimes small river!) running through the middle of it.
Although the area is rich in foliage and woodland, there doesn't seem to be any sign of anything living in the stream and I was wondering what you can do to try and encourage wildlife to move in!?
Apparantly there are otters quite a bit further up and we have seen footprints about 1/2 a mile along the stream, but no signs of anything in our bit
Also, it's very, very overgrown there in terms of 4ft high nettles, undergrowth and the bank is not really defined due to trees overhanging etc.
Should we leave it as nature intended or clear it a bit?
Any suggestions would be really appreciated
Hi James, welcome to the forum!
That sounds like a wonderful bit of land you are going to purchase. I'm no expert on woodland, but I do think you would want to let nature handle itself as much as possible. Real woodland isn't neat and tidy so wildlife can cope with that.
How long have you spent in the woods? Sometimes wildlife only becomes apparent when you have spent quite a bit of time in the place.
To be honest we've only been in about 3 times and each time for only 20 minutes or so, so you're absolutely right it could be teeming with wildlife and just our timing is out.
I would like to manage it a bit, just so our access is easier, but maybe only a rough path through it - It's so lovely, there's a bridge over the stream which we'd own too, we would be really lucky having it.
There's an old shed erected (looks like a bad case of asbestos!) at the top of the land and we're thinking of replacing with a hide.
Just have to hope to high heaven that we win the house at auction!!
Hi James, and the very best of luck with the auction. It sounds as though you've found yourself a lovely spot.
My suggestion would probably be to cut a path to allow yourself easy access and leave the rest alone for now. If you manage it too much you might only succeed in frightening away the wildlife that was already there. If possible you should find some good shelter or build yourself a makeshift hide (the shed sounds like a possible option, depending on where and how it's sited) from which you can observe the area for reasonable periods of time. You could well have scared off what wildlife was there when you appraoched and 20 minutes is not a long time for it to start coming back. Any animals would also have picked up your scent. As it's rich in foliage you may have to be very patient if you're to see anything. You could always look creating a few food stations that will attract wildlife, especially with winter approaching and natural food supplies becoming scarce.
I would suggest you contact your local wildlife trust and ask them to come and have a look and give you advice. The area needs to be managed for the wildlife in the locality.
Other than that, it sounds as if you need to clear some of the vegetation from the river bank, it's important that some areas of water have direct light on them. Also, if there's room, a small sheltered open glade will also attract wildlife. "Stepped" edges will be better than going directly from ground to tall trees, otherwise, keep it nice and untidy with plenty of undergrowth.
Hey James, I agree with everything that has been said & very best of luck with the auction, please let us know if you're successful.
If there is any ivy growing on the trees, please leave it be as I'm sure you know that provides an excellent habitat for all sorts of creatures, to birds to insects - I've never understood peoples idea that ivy chokes the trees - that's complete rubbish, if anything it keep them healthy & protects them from high winds!
Good luck with the auction, let us know how it goes! A path is a must, and as wild canon says some clearing will be neccessary. Contacting the local wildlife trust is also very good advice.
Thanks everyone, will report back on Monday.
If we win it then I'll take lots of pics of the land and pop them on here.
Good luck, and welcome to the forum!
Kingfisher
A little but preemptive this, but we're hopefully buying a house at auction on Friday which comes with 1/4 acre of land on the otherside of the road.
This land is woodland with a stream (sometimes small river!) running through the middle of it.
Welcome to the forum James, it sounds as though you have found a gem of a house there!
Although the area is rich in foliage and woodland, there doesn't seem to be any sign of anything living in the stream and I was wondering what you can do to try and encourage wildlife to move in!?
Apparantly there are otters quite a bit further up and we have seen footprints about 1/2 a mile along the stream, but no signs of anything in our bit
I find when I am out and about that as a stomping human being I disturb all the wildlife that is around for quite a distance. I often just set down in what seem to be areas with nothing going on and within 20 minutes or so the area is suddenly teeming with things going on, so as others have said you probably have quite a lot of wildlife there it is more a case of spending some time there in one place and staying still without disturbing it to see what starts to come out.
Otters if my memory serves me right will cover quite a stretch of water (I'm no expert - I keep saying this - just reminds me how thick I am! 
) I think upto 20km stretches in some instances and they will have places that they like to stop off at, resting places, slides on the bank etc. Otters also like the river banks to be vegetated allowing them some cover and certainly where their holt is - so leaving the bankside vegetated isn't a bad idea. They might well come your way but I think a lot of patience would be the key to seeing the Otters if they do come down as far as your stretch of the river.
I would have thought as long as the water quality was good in the stream that there must be wildlife in there, so I go on the theory that your timing is possibly out.
I suppose that otters will only be present if enough food is there. So going on the theory that they are mainly eating fish/mussels, there must be fish present up/down stream so on that basis the stretch in question must also have fish.
Good Luck James.
Wow that was stressful....
We bloody won though!!! Very, very happy!
The best thing? It's been recorded for Homes under the Hammer!!
Hurrah! Now we can demand photos
!
Congratulations, take a few days off and relax...
Kingfisher
Well done James, I am really pleased it means that we can watch Homes under the Hammer , which we (myself & Skippy) like to watch. Please keep us posted on the viewing date.
Then if you are not tooooooo busy you can keep us updated with the wildlife bit & what advice you take & how it goes on, with pics of course!
We are building a wildlife garden probably next year as we have 2 major projects on this year. We would love to hear about yours then it might give us some ideas & we could learn much more.
