Create a Mini Beast Refuge in Your Garden. Logpile Habitat for International Day for Biological Diversity.

Love them or loathe them why not provide a habitat for mini beasts in your garden or yard.
Why? They are part of our ecosystem, and even the tidiest garden has a place for a nature corner.

By creating a habitat that is not managed, you are in effect acknowledging that biodiversity is essential to us all. Making an oasis for bugs in your garden gives your kids a place for close encounters with the weird and wonderful universe of Arthropods etc. A logpile refuge will help to generate both beneficial and detrimental populations of bug life which in turn may attract the animals that prey on them - birds, reptiles, amphibians et al.

Time-lapse flowers? Bah everyone's doing that! Time lapse lignin decay is what you need :)

Go on,  do your bit for Lady Nature and 2010 International Day for Biological Diversity, May 22nd.

Here's what you will need......

Step 1: ....sticks.....

You don't need to stack up a whole Sequoia, just scale the amounts to your space.

Step 2: ....logs.....

Be as neat or as messy as you feel like.

Step 3: ....lumps O' Trunk....

If you have room for a little bit of big stuff, you may get some fungi to add microbial interest to your logpile habitat.

Step 4:

That's it!

How simple is that?  If you can't help peeking at the bottom of the pile you'll probably find the first colonists will be brandling/tiger worms and woodlice/pillbugs.



I'd love to see any pics of your logpile habitat and any associated wildlife just add comments and images to this Instructable.

Big thanks for the Scolopendra Sp. image goes to Eric Guinther.

Shameless plug: I've entered this in the Garden contest, please give it your vote :)