Who is pooing in my garden? A book about animals, insects, and poo!

Who is Pooing in My Garden?

A book about animals, insects, and poo!

P N Burrows

Who is Pooing in My Garden?

First published in 2024

Copyright © P N Burrows 2024

The rights of the author have been asserted in accordance with Sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, design and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the Copyright holder’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addresses to the publishers.

Contents

Introduction

Four Legged

Badger

Cat

Fox

Frog

Hedgehog

Mole

Mouse

Newt

Rabbit

Rat

Squirrel

Toad

Creepy-Crawlies

Ant

Beetle

Centipede

Millipede

Spider

Slimies

Slug

Snail

Snake

Worm

Winged

Bat

Bee

Blackbird

Butterfly

Corvid

Damselfly

Dragonfly

Dunnock

Fly

Ladybird

Mayfly

Moth

Owl

Pigeon

Robin

Sparrow

Starling

Thrush

Tit

Wasp

Wren

Useful Words

Helping Wildlife

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also By

Introduction

Introduction

This book is a light-hearted look at the wildlife in British gardens. In it, we’ll look at the useful functions that insects and animals play, and we’ll talk a lot about animal poo! Who doesn’t love talking about poo? I also wrote this book so we could learn a little about the things that scurry, slither, hop, run, and fly about our gardens.

British wildlife is full of beautiful animals and insects. You’ll be amazed at how many of them are pooing in your garden!

Without poo, our plants would not grow.

In nature, plants use the energy from the sun to grow, and without insects and animals eating the plants, they would grow out of control. The plant-eating creatures poo out their waste, and this poo makes excellent food for the plants. The cycle continues, with even more plants growing, feeding more insects and animals, who produce even more poo. Your garden is full of poo!

Did you know that the poo from cows and pigs is runny because of the artificial diet fed to them by the farmers? In the wild, their poo is lumpy like that of horses. Pig poo is the smelliest, and it’s difficult for farmers to wash the stink out of their clothes.

Manure is a fancy name for animal poo that is used to feed plants. Gardeners scatter manure on the ground next to a plant using a garden fork and gloves. Manure is normally the poo from plant-eating animals (herbivores) like horses, cows, and farm pigs (in the wild, pigs will eat anything).

Poo from meat-eating animals (carnivores) like cats, dogs, and humans is nasty stuff. It takes special insects to digest carnivore poo and turn it into manure.

Nature is amazing, but it is also a little scary. There is always something bigger wanting to eat you. Imagine a mouse scampering across a field, darting from hedge to hedge looking for a bite to eat. The mouse knows there are meat-eating creatures about (predators) that are also looking for their dinner, and so the mouse must be wary not to become their next meal.

Even though we talk a lot about animal poo in this book, please do not play with it or touch it. It will make you ill.

Four Legged