Rotten wood piles can save bugs from ‘sea of concrete’

GARDENERS should put rotten logs in their flower beds to help insects struggling to survive amid a “sea of tarmac drives and concrete patios”, conservationists have said.

Decaying wood is usually looked on with suspicion as people are afraid it is dirty and carries disease, but it is of great value to the ecosystem.

A spokesman for the the Woodland

Trust said: “When walking through a wood, people may see rotting logs or broken branches and think that the woodland is unhealthy or dangerous.

“In actual fact, the risks posed to people by decaying wood are usually small, yet the value to ecosystem health is enormous.

“We would advise leaving deadwood in gardens as it provides a valuable habitat for wildlife.”

Leaving a pile of rotting wood in the garden provides food and shelter for a plethora of fungi, snails, bugs, birds, hedgehogs and frogs.

The Wildlife Trusts agreed, saying that many British gardens are “part of a sea of tarmac drives and concrete patios”, so space for nature is crucial.

Beetles, which love making their home in rotting wood, are currently under threat.

Guy Barter, an adviser for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), said logs should be placed in heaps between 2-3ft high in shaded parts of the garden with stakes on each side to prevent them rolling. They usually take some years to decay and are best left undisturbed – but can be made to look like an attractive feature. He added: “Any rather pretty logs, for example birch, can make quite ornamental piles. In fact, the use of logs to make log pile fences was popular throughout RHS show gardens in 2019.”