Why a pile of old logs earns its place in any garden

Dead wood is one of the richest habitats in the British countryside, and one of the rarest in our gardens. A tidy plot with every fallen branch cleared away offers almost nothing to the creatures that depend on decaying timber. A log pile puts that right in a single afternoon's work, and it costs nothing but a corner of ground and a little patience.

Rotting wood holds moisture, shelter and a steady supply of food. Beetle larvae, woodlice, millipedes, centipedes, slugs, snails and the grubs of hoverflies and craneflies all live in and around it. Fungi break the timber down further, softening it so that more creatures can move in. That community then feeds the birds you actually want to see: a wren working through the crevices, a robin dropping down to snap up a beetle, a song thrush turning over damp leaf litter at the base of the stack.

Choosing the right spot

Position matters more than size. You want somewhere that stays cool and damp, because a log pile that bakes in full sun will dry out and stall. The base of a north-facing hedge, the shade under a shrub, or the shadowy side of a shed or fence all work well. Leave one edge open to the sun if you can, so that frogs and slow worms have somewhere to bask.

• On bare soil, not paving. Contact with the ground lets damp rise and lets soil invertebrates walk straight in.
• Near a hedge, tree or border. The pile becomes an extension of existing cover, which makes it far more attractive to wildlife.
• Away from play areas and busy paths. Not because it is dangerous, but because it will be disturbed.
• With a little space around it. Half a metre of rougher ground, ideally with a few leaves left to gather, doubles its value.

What to put in it

Any untreated timber from a deciduous tree will do. Oak, beech, ash, apple, birch and field maple are all excellent, and the softer the wood, the faster it will rot and the sooner it will be colonised. Keep the bark on: it traps moisture and shelters insects. Logs between 10cm and 30cm across are the most useful, as they hold their damp core for years.

Do avoid treated, painted or stained timber, and skip yew and laburnum, which are toxic. Conifer logs are fine but slow to break down, so mix them in rather than building a whole pile from them.

• Logs and thick branches, bark on
• A couple of vertical stumps, partly buried, with the cut face upwards
• Brash, twigs and hollow stems, such as old bamboo or sunflower stalks
• Leaf litter, a little soil and a few stones to fill the gaps

How to build the pile

There is no wrong way, but a loosely stacked pile beats a tight one every time. Aim for roughly a metre high and a metre wide, and stop there; anything larger becomes a job to move and offers little extra benefit in a garden setting.

• Part-bury the biggest logs so that a third or so of each sits below soil level. This keeps them damp and gives ground-dwelling creatures an easy route in.
• Stack the rest loosely at different angles, leaving gaps and crannies rather than fitting everything snugly together.
• Add the smaller material on top and around the edges, then trickle soil and leaf mould into the gaps.
• Finish with a few vertical logs standing upright, which makes the pile look deliberate and gives insects a warm, dry surface.

Speed things up by drilling a few 10mm holes into the side of the larger logs. Beetles and solitary bees will find them, and wood-decaying fungi often follow.

Keeping it damp, messy and undisturbed

The single biggest mistake is tidying it. A log pile is meant to sprawl and decay, so resist the urge to restack it or sweep up around it.

• Top up with fallen leaves in autumn and let them rot down at the base.
• If you have a water butt, tip a little water over the pile in long dry spells.
• Leave it completely alone from late October to March, when hedgehogs, frogs and toads may be hibernating inside.
• Never move or burn the pile in winter without checking it first, carefully and by hand.

What you'll see as the years pass

The first season brings woodlice, slugs and the odd beetle. By the second year the fungi arrive, and with them the beetle larvae that woodpeckers and nuthatches love. Frogs and toads move into the cool base, where they will happily eat their way through your slug population.

Then the birds come properly. Expect dunnocks and blackbirds scratching in the litter, blue tits and great tits picking off caterpillars and spiders, and a robin that treats the pile as its personal larder. If you are fortunate, a great spotted woodpecker will visit in winter, and a hedgehog may choose the base as a hibernation site.

Put it somewhere you can see from a kitchen window, keep a pair of binoculars nearby, and let it rot in peace. That is the whole secret.