You will need:
Logs! You can get them from tree surgeons or firewood dealers. If you’re lucky, some pieces may already contain beetle grubs which could hatch and populate your garden. Native wood is best, but anything will do.
Building your log shelter:
You can build up the logs to form your ‘minibeast village’ in a variety of ways:
- Scattered: Scatter your logs in a flower border or under a hedge. Like this, they are handy for keeping plants apart and mulching the soil, but you’ll get more wildlife if you do create a concentrated stack.
- Neat and tidy pile: Tidy stacks are often seen in coppiced woodlands. Logs are carefully piled on top of each other, often forming a pyramid.
- Higgledy piggledy: The ‘natural’ way to do it, and great for architectural impact. But it doesn’t create much shade.
- Organ pipes: Sunken wood creates the most micro-climate possibilities.
- Giant cheese: If you can get a real ‘wagon wheel’ log, it will create the most stable environment of all underneath. Superb for amphibian hibernation.