Log Pile

Plenty of wildlife makes its home in dead wood, and other animals use it as a source of food. 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. A log pile will feed a
wide range of insects as it rots and give refuge and food to many small mammals, reptiles and
amphibians. Then birds will visit to prey on the insect residents. One simple pile of logs can quickly
become a flourishing wildlife community. As the wood decays, the nutrients in the log are broken
down and recycled. Living things like insects, mosses, lichens, fungi and ferns make use of these
nutrients. These animals and plants are the recyclers, helping put nutrients back into the soil for
other forest plants to use as they grow. Our log pile is already mostly rotten wood and will
eventually be under our growing trees in the shade, but for now it is especially helping slow worms,
grass snakes, hedgehogs, and toads. There are other small log piles rotting down in more shady
corners.

Near the log pile are various pieces of roofing material which are refuges for cold blooded animals like slow worms. They lie under the roofing sheets to warm up or lie on the terracotta tiles for the same reason and can escape quickly under the roofing sheets if frightened. We also have several terracotta refuges for hedgehogs.