Dead Wood Pile
Difficulty rating
Materials
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Use woody cuttings from trees and shrubs. This can be collected from maintenance works in the school grounds, local tree surgeons etc.
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Don’t take fallen wood from other sites.
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Larger diameter pieces with bark attached are best, but can be supplemented with twigs and smaller branches and herbaceous plants.
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Use a mixture of sizes and types if possible.
Indicative Costs
Free if you use materials cut from other areas of your site, or gather fallen dead wood from within your wooded area.
Method
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Leave woody cuttings in compact piles to maintain humidity.
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Choose a location in dappled shade.
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Leave in contact with the ground.
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Leaving piles of leaves, logs and twigs in a quiet corners of the school grounds can also provide natural hedgehog habitat, providing a warm, dry and secluded place for them to nest in and hibernate.
Benefits
Valuable habitat for mosses, lichens, fungi, invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles.
Additional benefits to other animals such as birds, hedgehogs, amphibians and reptiles which feed on invertebrates.
Maintenance
Minimal.
Top up annually with new material as the original pile begins to deteriorate.