African Wildlife and Environment Issue 67

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

if a tree had died and fallen over. It is amazing how rapidly a wide variety of creatures have made use of this wood. In turn, this has attracted insectivorous birds and other small predators, and so the ecosystem in our grassland continues to become more and more complex and therefore healthier. A small, inconspicuous log-pile creates many safe spaces for tiny creatures while providing a food source for dead-wood feeders, from fungi to insects. Whether tidy or untidy, the pile of wood will create a haven for both small vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as those creatures that feed on them. If you are pruning trees back, leave the cut-off branches, or at least pieces of them, in the wildlife garden for nature to break down. As wood decays over time, it also releases valuable carbon and nutrients into the soil, making them available to other plants as building blocks for healthy growth. It is important to note that any wood that is put into a biodiversity garden has to be untreated to be of use to a wide variety of wildlife species. If it has bark on it, it is an even better We will talk in more detail about soil, compost and mulch and other soil conditioners in the next article in this series. However, I felt it important to mention mulch briefly in this article, as wood-chip mulch falls broadly into the category of dead wood. Mulch is the ‘buffer zone’ between life above and below the soil, and provides the organic material (humus) that enriches the top-soil, and is broken down into nutrients that can be absorbed by the plants again. habitat for tiny creatures. Mulch from dead wood

Spider wasps are fond of cracks in rocks

Most of the plants’ fine roots for absorption of nutrients are found in this layer of top soil, which is only a few centimetres thick. Earthworms, ants andother organisms feed on this organic matter and help to break the mulch down even further. When they pass out waste, it includes microbes from their guts, and these help the decomposition process along to make nutrients available to plants growing in the soil. If you purchase ‘driftwood’ from a nursery, please make sure that it has been responsibly harvested. The harder the wood, the longer it will be present in your garden, but it is almost useless to creatures that bore into it or need to make holes to nest in it. The wider the variety of wood in your garden, the greater the array of creatures that will be able to make use of it.

Linda Da Luca Random Harvest www.rh.co.za

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