Stephen Owen is Scottish Wildlife Trust ranger at the Jupiter Urban Wildlife Centre, near Grangemouth. Despite the industrial setting alongside the massive petro-chemical plant, this is a haven for birdlife. The feeders, stocked with seeds, peanuts and fat, attract various species of tits and finches, along with the occasional great spotted woodpecker.
Food is also knocked out of feeders, and this helps ground-feeding birds such as robins, blackbirds, dunnocks and wrens. Cheese is also okay so long as it's not mouldy, says Stephen Owen. Wrens and robins really go for the cheese, as it gives them lots of saturated fats and helps them to keep going, especially in the winter.
A pile of mud, turf and branches hides a wooden box with an entrance tunnel: an over-wintering house for hedgehogs. These hibernate, then begin to emerge in March.
The pond is fairly quiet in winter, as the fish are mainly at the bottom. Some birds and mammals still come to drink, so if the surface is frozen the ranger breaks it a little. Even a very small pond can attract a lot of wildlife, such as frogs. The best time to put a garden pond in is in winter, when things are dormant.
The Jupiter Centre is visited by herons and waxwings, despite being so close to Grangemouth. It shows that you can get all kinds of wildlife even in an urban environment.
www.swt.org.uk/visit/reserves/JUP/JupiterUrban Wildlife Centre/
