Happy Habitat Piles - and welcome to more diverse life in 2025!
Tuesday, 7 January 2025
I am prompted to write this, after receiving an email this morning from my good friend and mentor, Michael Boxall.
Michael thoughtfully sent me a photograph of one of the many habitat piles he has in his garden. This one is particularly attractive, I think.
Creating a habitat heap will attract a range of wildlife, including the following:
- Common woodlouse
These cute little creatures are great at recycling nutrients - they feed on decaying matter. They are also eaten by birds. - Brown centipede
These amazing creatures can live for up to four years. - Common toad
Toads can live up to ten years, so a good home for them is always welcomed. - Lesser stag beetle
These beetles thrive in logs, and rotting wood. - Devil's coach horse
What a great name for a ferocious beetle that eats invertebrates and vine weevil. Take care if you see one - they can give a nasty nip!
And by attracting all of these, and more, you can expect more birds, hedgehogs and frogs.
Michael explained to me how he made this particular habitat.
"We have several habitat piles in the garden; a stack of old stakes now well covered with ivy, one of chainsaw chippings, sawdust and grass clippings and one which is made with stock netting, enabling a stack of off-cuts, bits of bark and other wood to be built and contained, against which Charlotte has planted bramble and honeysuckle: these will grow over it in a few years.
Many gardens could fit in a well contained pile like this and fill it with scrap bits of wood, any kind will do. They will provide homes for many small creatures - woodlice, earwigs etc. -, foraging places for wrens and other small birds and not spread untidily. Rabbit netting could also be used, but would make accessing crevices more difficult for the birds".
In a larger garden you could consider making a 'dead hedge'.
The photograph above is from RHS wildlife - deadwood and compost heap habitats.
As they explain, creating a dead hedge is a good way to use the twigs and branches you have pruned. You can put in all the bits you have cut from your hedges, fruit and nut trees, and shrubs. This organic material will soon degrade and you can simply top it up each time you prune. Fabulous!
Here are a couple links to websites giving more ideas and information about making a habitat pile in your garden.
The Wildlife Trusts. How to make a log shelter
Good luck with making your garden more wildlife friendly! Let us know how you get on, we would love to receive your photos! email: [email protected]