Create a log pile for wildlife
In woodlands, fallen wood occurs naturally and many species have adapted to use this habitat. But in our increasingly tidy countryside, fallen and dead wood is not so common.
This activity can be completed as part of Schools Wild Challenge or Nature on your Doorstep and counts as the Helping Nature activity Habitat heaps.
Instructions
Collect your dead wood
It’s best to get your dead wood from your own garden each time you do any pruning or lopping. You can also see if friends and neighbours have any going spare. If you get really stuck, you can buy dead wood from a local tree surgeon. But don't just wander into a local wood and help yourself as you'll be removing nature's home!
Where to put your dead wood?
You can put it just about anywhere in your garden - it will attract different wildlife in different places. If you put it somewhere shady, it’s likely to rot more quickly. Fungi are likely to arrive and mosses may grow.
Put the wood in the sun, however, and the wood will turn dry and hard. This is how solitary bees, who investigate old beetle holes, and wasps, who ‘harvest’ (chew) wood to build their nests, like it.
It's a good idea to put it in an existing or new flowering border where the inhabitants may find nectar.