Toads!

[Steven P]

I have one living in my freshly cut log pile ( am wanting to stack these for the year so toad will be homeless soon)

 

 

Couple of questions, does aonyone else have interesting wildlife in their wood piles? (we also had a wood wasp the other year too -huge ad scary looking)

 

Second question, has anyone left any wood piles to atract wildlife and any tips like just throw them in a pile, stack tem, stack them on pallets or bricks or rocks? part bury them?

 

(Mr Toad eats slugs, slugs eat my vegies, mr Toad is good)

 

[trigger_andy]

3 hours ago, Steven P said:

I have one living in my freshly cut log pile ( am wanting to stack these for the year so toad will be homeless soon)

 

 

Couple of questions, does aonyone else have interesting wildlife in their wood piles? (we also had a wood wasp the other year too -huge ad scary looking)

 

Second question, has anyone left any wood piles to atract wildlife and any tips like just throw them in a pile, stack tem, stack them on pallets or bricks or rocks? part bury them?

 

(Mr Toad eats slugs, slugs eat my vegies, mr Toad is good)

 

I removed two toads from a pile of clogs I was splitting. Could easily have killed them as I never knew they where there and what a fleg they gave me.  

 

After reading your post I should have moved them to my Veg patch and not the small forested area at the back of the house. 

[nepia]

Two winters ago I took to wearing gloves all the time due to the numbers of hibernating wasps.

I carefully move hibernating butterflies to a cage of logs not due to be disturbed any time soon but I didn't find a single specimen last winter; very sad.

My IBCs contain numerous Field Mouse nests which is great.

Found last spring's robin's nest (I'd guess) only this afternoon.

 

 

[Deafhead]

All the deadwood from my Oak field margins is cut and stacked as bug burrows, I call them cold bonfires as they eventually decay to nothing. This time of the year I am always taking toads, frogs and newts out of the chlorinated swimming pool water and transferring them to a small natural pond. As a sideways comment on nature the charming grey squirrels have just eaten through the leadwork on the chimneys of my sons house.

[gary112]

Got loads of toads this year seem more than ever.I always leave log piles in the woods where i can and they create a home for lots of wildlife,fascinating what you find when you rummage through.

[Ratman]

All the deadwood from my Oak field margins is cut and stacked as bug burrows, I call them cold bonfires as they eventually decay to nothing. This time of the year I am always taking toads, frogs and newts out of the chlorinated swimming pool water and transferring them to a small natural pond. As a sideways comment on nature the charming grey squirrels have just eaten through the leadwork on the chimneys of my sons house.

Sneaky little sods!!! I’d never of thought squirrels would av took a fancy to lead of all things?! To be hoped your lad don’t find them in time festering somewhere internally because they’ve snuffed it from lead poisoning!
[emoji15][emoji40]??

[scbk]

Found 2 frogs/toads in this pile I was doing yesterday, they were lucky I spotted them before them got squashed

The logs had been there for many years, and were really well stuck together, took a fair bit of effort just to separate them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Steven P]

Massive problem with toads is they look like bark.

 

Had a mouse nest in the garage logs one year - nice and cosy and dry for them (no food in the garage so it was just bed for the) -mice were long gone by the time I got to it.

 

 

 

 

Squirrels and seeing the lead flashing - they gnawed through the wheelie bin ld and starting living in it one year, I tipped it up so the squirrel cold get out then took it in the garage to patc hit with mesh and fibre glass, next day  got a text "The squirell is in the bin" - sneaky thng must have been sat in the there hiding and watching - and then high as a kite all morning from th fumes. Kind of glad it did keep still rather than jumpng out. I ddn't have the heart to let the bin men take it with them.

[neiln]

wasps, a lot of wasps.  I average 3 per m3.  I've seen ne of my local wood peckers in my shed...he is either useless, or fat...i think its the former. Also one mose nest.

[nepia]

On the subject of hibernating wasps;  I thought it was queens that hibernated so they could create colonies in the spring but many of the winter log dwellers are wingless.   What's going on there?