Wildlife Stack

We spent a couple of very pleasant hours the other weekend creating a wildlife stack near the pond, also known as an insect hotel, bug hotel amongst other titles.  Most photos of these stacks that you see online use pallets as the basis for the framework.  However, my husband was having none of that, hating the look of pallets, and said it would have to be more rustic than that.  So off he went to raid the log store.

The pond area is an ideal spot to site as it has some sun and some shade and will also provide refuge for any newts or frogs.  A pallet was allowed as the base and this had a layer of widely-spaced logs placed on it.  This was filled with twigs, long pieces of dead grass, small terracotta pots, dried leaves etc.  Another layer of logs and some cardboard was put on next and filled again.  This process was repeated until we had a stack about 1 m square.

We added mason bee nests on the more sheltered side (the little wooden houses in the photo below) and lots more logs and tubes and foliage for all sorts of creatures.  We also added bits of slate and brick, the aim being to provide as many type of nooks and crannies as possible!  The gap under the pallet base will also provide shelter for amphibians, and, for good measure, we put a broken terracotta pot sideways on as a possible home for frogs.

The top of the stack was finished off with a piece of thick board covered in some spare pondliner we had.  This was edged with logs and the middle filled with soil.  Wildflowers have been planted in this  (Wild Pansy, Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Chamomile) and a couple more structures added on the top - an old chimney pot filled with bee nesting tubes and a small bug house.  Wildflowers were also planted around the base of the structure (Red Campion, Ox-eye Daisy and Viper's Bugloss) so that in the summer it will look glorious and colourful and blend into the site more.  It should also have many residents such as spiders, bees, lacewings, ladybirds, beetles etc.  Everything the stack was made from was recycled from bits and pieces we found in the shed and garden so it didn't cost a penny!  I will update you on creatures using the stack and how it looks in the summer.

Our stack is quite big but it doesn't have to be this big if your garden does not have much room - any size will be useful to the wildlife it will attract.