The death of a hedgehog called Spike has prompted efforts to safeguard wildlife at Crieff Community Garden.
Local schoolchildren took the hedgehog to their hearts and gave it a name after frequent sightings at the garden.
But it was in an unnatural environment and died after failing to find a place to hibernate.
Community garden volunteers are now taking action to ensure other animals can thrive.
And pupils at Crieff Primary School got in on the act by taking part in a competition to design bird houses.
A winner was announced from each year group, and all bird houses were made, painted and installed on Monday.
A grant of £250 from Action Earth – which helps local communities to respond to climate change – has funded the project.
Inspired by Spike the hedgehog
Seven bird houses, a hedgehog house, and a frog house were among the habitats to be put in place by the community.
Catriona Smith of Crieff Community Garden said: “I guess the idea came about because we were overjoyed to have a resident hedgehog in the garden which the school children called Spike, as they saw it so frequently.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t a good thing that we saw it so much during the day and sadly Spike passed.
“We therefore wanted to introduce a hedgehog house so future hedgehogs would have somewhere safe and snug to hibernate.
“This then led to the discussion of how we can encourage other wildlife.
“We have lots of bird feeders in the garden so blue tits, bull finches, green finches and sparrows frequent the garden.
“But we’ve also had pheasants, toads, field mice and most recently a woodpecker.”
Supporting local wildlife and local people
And this is just the latest Crieff Community Garden drive to support locals.
In August last year, the garden teamed up with Crieff Community Foodbank to provide free fruit and vegetables to locals.
Crates were placed at the garden to save excess fruit and vegetables from going to waste.
And it proved instantly popular with locals, with with two dozen crates of fruit and veg saved from landfill in the first four days.
