Creating homes for bees, reptiles and invertebrates

Joe explains how to create different homes for wildlife in community spaces...

If you are trying to improve your local area for wildlife, creating homes for bugs, beetles, reptiles or other wildlife can bring a lot of value both for those individuals directly but also for other animals higher up the foodchain, such as hedgehogs.

One of the best ways to create these areas is to just grab a bunch of rubble of various size and dump it in a corner - the nooks and crannies created by this can be use by all sorts of wildlife. Sadly, this has a good chance of looking messy and may even encourage other to dump what they see as rubbish on your site, which you obviously do not want. So, to help this I've listed a couple of designs below that you can use to create some fantastic habitats for wildlife in your community greenspaces.

A bug hotel made out of wooden pallets — Bug hotel by Rosemary Winnall

Design one: pallet bug habitat

A pallet habitat is a great option if you have limited space as you build upwards rather than outwards. It's also a good alternative if you cannot dig or if most of your site is concrete. So, if you have space to lay a pallet on the floor, that should be enough.

To make your pallet bug hotel, you start by placing the pallet upside down on the ground, with the wooden planks faced down. Then you fill the centre of the pallet with brash (brash is a mixture of dead plant matter that includes sticks, leaves and cuttings). Once you've finished your first layer, you want to carry on building upwards using other pallets. You can fill these layers with different materials and definitely include a number of logs with holes drilled in; the holes should be a range of sizes from 7 to 15mm. I would recommend having your tower about four pallets high. For the roof, I'd suggest corrugated metal as it can help keep the habitat warm. If you don't have metal available, roofing felt would work as well. If you're creative and the pallet will hold it, you can create a green roof here - a light substrate of soil should be enough for some alpine plants, sedums and the like, to take root.

You may find that the habitat is not used in the first year and that's okay! Sometimes it can take time for species to find the habitat and to make themselves at home.

A hibernaculum with trees surrounding it — Hibernaculum by Becca Bratt

Design two: buried hibernacula

A hibernaculum is a useful option if you are able to dig in your greenspace. A hibernaculum is an underground habitat that provides shelter for a range of wildlife throughout the year, such as amphibians and reptiles.

To build a hibernaculum, you want to start by digging a hole, around 50cm by 50cm wide and about 50cm deep would be appropriate. Once you have removed all the soil from the hole, you want to fill it with a mixture of rumble, brash and logs. You don't want to overfill the hole as you want to leave room for all your future friends to move around. Then use a long stick to create a roof that you can then pile the soil on top of. Most importantly don't forget to make some entrances, otherwise nothing will be able to get in. Whatever you build doesn’t need to look pretty (unless you'd like it to); as long as there are gaps and openings, wildlife will find a way to use it.

Make sure you also put signs up saying it's there so that people are aware it's not solid ground and, with any luck, people will be able to quietly sit to watch the comings and goings of some of the wildlife.

We've been creating habitats like this with members of the community on our Dropping Well Farm nature reserve and everyone has really enjoyed getting involved. This can be a real team effort and you'll be rewarded with knowing that you're helping wildlife where you live. So there you have it; two habitats that you can set up in your local greenspace (provided you get permission) that will support a range of species. If you want to go even further to help wildlife, you could try planting for pollinators, so that bees and butterflies have spots to stop when travelling through landscapes.