How to make your own frog hibernaculum

Autumn is the best time to create a cosy winter hideaway for local frogs.

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Jo Price

Published: September 21, 2015 at 5:02 am

All illustrations by Alan Batley

Take an old growing bag and dig a shallow trench of the same size in a sheltered spot.

Lay the bag in the trench (this conserves moisture) and firm down any compost inside.

Cover the bag completely with grass and shrub clippings, and pack it all down.

Pile leaves and some twigs over the top, then leave the hibernaculum alone until spring.

Jo Price

Deputy editor, BBC Wildlife Magazine

Jo Price is the deputy editor of BBC Wildlife Magazine. She trained as a journalist at Cardiff University and has been a member of the BBC Wildlife team for nine years, working in various roles. Jo commissions exciting natural history content and interviews experts for the magazine’s Wild Times section and discoverwildlife.com. She enjoys wildlife gardening to support an array of species, including a few hedgehogs: creating a hedgehog highway has resulted in the prickly mammals visiting her suburban garden to forage and hibernate. Jo spends her weekends exploring local nature reserves, Magor Marsh and RSPB Newport Wetlands, and going on countryside walks and bike rides with her family.

Illustrations by Alan Batley

How to make your own frog hibernaculum

Take an old growing bag and dig a shallow trench of the same size in a sheltered spot.

Lay the bag in the trench (this conserves moisture) and firm down any compost inside.

Cover the bag completely with grass and shrub clippings, and pack it all down.

Pile leaves and some twigs over the top, then leave the hibernaculum alone until spring.

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