Creating wildlife habitat in your garden

Late winter is an opportunity to get out in the garden (when it’s not raining) and do some pruning of trees, before the sap starts to rise in spring. But what to do with the woody waste you’ve now made? It can be tempting to take it to the tip or throw it in your garden waste bin but don’t, it can be used in the garden.

Chop or saw them into short lengths and find a quiet corner of the garden, perhaps one that is in shade and nothing really grows in. Then stack them into a pile and leave them, it’s as simple as that. You now have a habitat that will be colonised by frogs, newts, bees, spiders, countless insects and moss and fungi.

Any time something leaves your house or garden it requires fossil fuel to be dealt with or processed, keeping it in the garden avoids the use of fossil fuels and creates much needed habitat at the same time.