Make a wildlife spiral.

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Make a wildlife spiral.

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  • I found this idea in a magazine, it looks very simple to make and I think it will make an interesting feature.

    You will need

     

    • About 10 straight logs (ideally) of fresh cut wood, graduating from about 1m down to 45cm.
    •  
    • Spade and fork
    •  
    • Electric drill and a range of drill bits
    •  
    • Dead leaves or leafmould

     

    Lay the logs in a line and mark them using a cane and chalk, (I cut enough wood for two spirals).

     

    Dig a pit that’s deep enough to hold at least half of your longest length (I hit very stony sub soil so mine was only a third of my longest length).

     

    Start with the longest length in the centre of the pit and work your way outwards in decreasing heights.

    When all the logs are in the pit, refill the pit firming the soil as you go.

    Fill all the gaps with dead leaves.

    Drill deep holes of various sizes in the outside logs.

    I planted a few plants and added some mossy stones.

    My logs weren’t freshly cut and they were closer to large sticks than logs, but something is better than nothing. 

     

     Also see wildlife stacks and insect homes!

    Life is too short to waste.

  • That looks a great idea for any garden but especially for people with limited ground space who can go upwards more easily than outwards.

    The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.

    The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!

  • ooh yes I like the look of that too! Thanks WF!

    "All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)

    My photos on Flickr

  • WF, I love that idea. Besides being a home for so many various insects, which on its own is fantastic, it will be like having a wooden sculpture in the garden. We are looking where we could have one. Thank you for posting all the instructions and the idea.

  • Fantastic idea, if only I had a garden to play with!

  • When I saw it I thought it would be good for a small garden or for limited space. With some planting around it, it will make an interesting feature and a real talking point.

     

    KatTai I can’t imagine life without a garden, I’d go stir crazy.

    Life is too short to waste.

  • Wildlife friendly
    When I saw it I thought it would be good for a small garden or for limited space. With some planting around it, it will make an interesting feature and a real talking point.
     
    KatTai I can’t imagine life without a garden, I’d go stir crazy.

    We do have a garden, just I refuse to do anything with it though due to the neighbours causing grief when I was feeding the birds (yet they were more than happy to let their dogs foul the garden and the brats pull up plants).  The house is rented and quite frankly, I want to move anyway to somewhere with a proper garden for the dog and for wildlife.  Right now people walk right passed, there is no privacy there at all and because of the neighbours dogs, my own dog can't be left out in the garden because there is a public footpath between our front door and the garden (and the neighbours dogs can and do jump the wall).  It's not a good situation and so I refuse to do anything with the garden at all now, it's not worth it.

     

  • KatTai, as Wf I can't imagine life without our garden, but I fully understand your position. It would be 'soul destroying' to watch others destroy my garden, not being able to stop them. Would your landlord not erect a wooden fence on top of your wall. We did this in our last house (just to give us more privacy).

  • KatTia, that’s areal shame especially as you want to use your garden. Can anything be done to make it better? If not I hope you can find another home and garden which will suit you better.

    Life is too short to waste.

  • Brilliant idea WF its the sort of thing that appeals to me , will definately go down on my list of to do's

    Regards  Derek

     

  • Hi WF

    Really good idea - given me even more thoughts with what to do with the wood I've good - albeit shorter in the picture but I reckon I can do something.  I've even got the caretaker at the school I work to give me a bagful of leaves from the school grounds.

    Great stuff!

  • The wildlife spiral, is a brillinat idea.  Thanks for posting the article WF.

     

    Paul.

    Warning!  This post contains atrocious spelling, and terrible grammar.  Approach with extreme edginess.

  • I’ll post a photo when I’ve made mine, perhaps others can do as well. It will be interesting to see how we’ve done with the materials we have. My logs are nothing like those in the photographs and I know Kezmo has some logs which are shorter than those mentioned.

    Life is too short to waste.

  • Kezmo, I can let you have plenty of leaves, ( spent three hours clearing leaves after weekend wind and rain)  but it is the' freshly' cut logs I will have to search for. I will have to keep my eyes open for anyone having tree work done and then plead for logs or buy them.   

  • Brenda H
     the' freshly' cut logs I will have to search for.
    I have to admit I’m not following it strictly, I don’t have freshly sawn logs but I do have a pile of logs which were cut last autumn.

     

    As I make mine I’ll take photographs and post them here (it was my fault the original ones were removed, I shouldn’t have been lazy and just scanned the article)

    Life is too short to waste.

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