Organic gardeners have known for many years that their plots
are important wildlife habitats, but within most gardens
organic or not, is a natural substance that a huge range of
garden wildlife relies upon. Stag beetles, centipedes, fungi,
woodpeckers, shrews, woodlice, hedgehogs, mosses and bats are
just a small number of the animals - and plants - dependent in
some way upon wood.
How we
use and recycle wood in our gardens is a subject to which most
responsible gardeners give a lot of thought. Bonfires are a
thing of the past to the enlightened, as the majority of
‘waste’ material produced in any garden, if not compostable,
can be used in other ways. Deadwood is now known to be a very
valuable wildlife habitat both in the countryside and in our
gardens, and frankly there is not enough of it around! Trees
in parks and gardens are heavily pruned to keep them safe and
even in the countryside, dead and decaying trees are removed
where they would cause no harm or danger if left alone as a
wildlife habitat. Yet deadwood provides food for many
insects, which in turn feed birds, amphibians, reptiles and
mammals. It is the substrate upon which some plants grow.
Toads and newts find the cool, damp nature of rotting wood
suits their life styles. All in all, a great deal of our
native wildlife needs wood at some time and as a bonus it
enriches the soil with nutrients as it breaks down.
November is a good time of year to use up wood from other
sources to create a damp place for the hibernation of newts,
toads and slow worms before the really cold weather sets in.
Any wood can be used for a log pile, but native hardwood
rather than conifer wood (unless you have native conifers such
as Scots pine around) will support a greater range of
insects. The size of the logs is not important either, but
the most useful and effective pile should have a least a few
of the logs buried to a depth of 10 cms or more. Don’t build
your log pile too high as the top will dry out and this is
less attractive to insects. It may be better to have several
small piles than one enormous one.
After
burying a few longer logs (these can be upright to create a
frame to support the others if you wish) simply pile the logs,
bits of bark, and untreated wood of any sort around the buried
pieces. You can add soil if you wish, to create a habitat
where woodland plants will grow. A ‘loggery’ – the log
equivalent of a rockery - is a fantastic habitat for all sorts
of wildlife and in a cool shady place can be used to grow
ferns and other shade-loving plants such as sweet woodruff or
primroses.
Many
beetles, including the magnificent stag beetle, lay their eggs
in very damp and decaying wood deep in the soil, so a dry wood
pile will certainly not attract as much in the way of wildlife
as a nice damp, decaying one. As far as stag beetles are
concerned, the older and more rotten the wood, the better. After the
female beetle has laid her eggs in the rotting wood and they
have hatched, the larvae spend up to five years chewing their
way through the wood in the dark. They have the appearance of
huge white maggots or grubs, belying the beautiful insect that
hatches after pupation. Stag beetles are more common in the
south east of the country and are declining as a result of
lack of habitat, but many other beetles will use your log pile
wherever you live.
Log
piles are not the only useful wildlife habitats that can be
made from waste wood. Twig piles are immensely useful for
nesting birds and can be an effective way of recycling
prunings from fruit trees or shrubs if you would prefer not to
shred them. These are best left in lengths of a metre or more
and if you have the room, piled up in an undisturbed corner of
the garden. In a smaller space, twig piles can also be pushed
under the bottom of a hedge where they will provide a habitat
for mice and shrews, a hibernation place for hedgehogs, or a
nest site for small birds such as dunnocks, which are happy to
build their nests close to the ground. A large ‘twiggery’ can
attract blackbirds, thrushes, wrens and even the occasional warbler
used to nesting in scrub, another habitat in short supply.
Mosses, liverworts, lichens and fungi are lower plants that we
sometimes forget about in our gardens, unless, like the honey
fungus, they are causing us problems. But each of these
groups has an important part to play, both in the breakdown of
dead wood, and in the provision of food for many types of
insect. Some lichens provide food for the caterpillars of
moths which lay their eggs on one species alone, and the
caterpillars will eat nothing else. The marbled green moth is
a striking example of a species that relies entirely on lichen
in the early part of its life cycle. Its mottled wing
patterns provide perfect camouflage while it is laying its
eggs on its lichen food plant.
There
are many other things we can do to maintain a ‘deadwood
habitat’ in our gardens, especially when dealing with damaged
trees. Try to leave living trees unless they are a hazard, or
remove just the dead or decaying branches to create a log
pile. Pollarding a tree can extend its life and create a good
wildlife habitat at the same time. If a tree must be cut
down, part of the trunk can sometimes be left in situ. This
can even become a garden feature if ivy, hops or perhaps a
blackberry can be allowed to scramble over it.
One of
the most creative ways to re-use wood in the garden is to
construct rustic furniture. Allow your artistic temperament
to shine through! As long as the wood is sound it can be used
in a variety of ways to make benches, seats or tables. Its
life may be short, but it is often more attractive than shop
bought furniture. A simple railway sleeper supported on two
logs can make a lovely informal seat where smaller insects
such as beetles and spiders can find a crevice to shelter in.
Resist the urge to treat this type of garden furniture with
preservatives, and allow it to break down naturally over
time. It will soon be colonised by lichen and mosses, adding
to its rustic appearance.
Wood
is a very precious commodity and it also provides a huge range
of wildlife with homes and food. Think carefully about how you use
it, and whenever you can, plant for the future. |
