Page 13 - Wildlife News April 2015

within a container or bucket Plants matter offer a ready supply of nectar birds, ponds attract a myriad of
if you don’t have space for and pollen for feeding. insects, including damsel and
a log pile. If there aren’t any Any vegetation will help to dragonflies, water boatmen
drainage holes in the base, boost insect and spider numbers. Don’t leave garden waste and water scorpions. If you
drill some. This will prevent it The wider the variety, the more for the council to collect. Use don’t have the space for a full-
from filling up with rainwater. options there will be for beetles it to make a compost heap, sized pond, make a mini pond
Now drill further holes into and bugs to find food and which will offer various stages within an old sink or bucket.
the sides. Fill with a mixture of shelter. Flowers with flat heads of decomposition and habitat
garden soil and wood chips. are especially welcomed by for many types of insect, such With the right range of
Decorate the outside of the insects. This includes members as rove beetles. habitats your garden can
pot to make it blend in or of the carrot family, such as become alive with insects and
stand out. astrantia and fennel. Thistles As well as providing a spiders, building a thriving local
and wildflower mixes will also home for amphibians and ecosystem from the ground up.
welcome drinking spot for

Build an insect hotel Habitat piles on
BBOWT nature reserves
1
with Debbie Lewis, Reserves Ecology Manager
This easy-to-
make insect Sometimes our reserves can seem a bit messy, with piles of
hotel uses rotting wood and vegetation left lying about. But this ‘mess’ is
a length of intentional – not just volunteers and staff running out of steam
bamboo lawn to tidy up! Wildlife thrives in habitats that to our ordered lives
edging for the might seem scruffy. Many invertebrates and fungi depend on
outer layer. dead and rotting wood. They are nature’s cleaners and spend
Place a bundle their lives decomposing dead vegetation back into soil. If we
of coarse stems take this away from them they have nothing to live on.
and twigs at one
end. Anything Management on almost all of our reserves includes
with a hollow providing the ideal conditions for deadwood-loving
core is ideal. invertebrates. However, just like us, different invertebrates
prefer different places to live; some like high rise flats, while
2 others prefer a waterside residence.

Roll the bamboo In order to provide homes for as many species as possible,
as tightly as you we provide a wide range of dead wood in various conditions.
can around the This might include leaving standing dead trees
bundle of stems (in safe places), felling trees and leaving them lying on
so you have a the ground, creating waterlogged wood in pools, half-burying
mixed core of branches or, most commonly, stacking wood to create a pile.
dry vegetation
surrounded But why do we bother? Invertebrates are fundamentally
by several important to the health of the ecosystem as a whole. They
insulating layers fuel the bottom of the food chain and ensure our soils are rich
of bamboo. Tie enough to support a wide range of plants. Without them we
it closed. wouldn’t have our beautiful bluebell woodlands or majestic
red kites. So here’s to ‘messy’ nature reserves and gardens.
3
Habitat pile at Dancersend, Bucks. (Tony Croft)
Tie (rather
than hang)
the completed
hotel in a place
where it will be
sheltered from
the worst of the
wind and rain –
under the eaves
of a shed or in
dense branches.

(Pictures by 13
Jeannine McAndrew)
April 2015