There’s a lot to be said for dead and decaying trees – we might not be so keen on them in our gardens, but life lurks amongst the hollows, the rot pockets and the crumbly ‘wood mould’.
In fact, over 2000 invertebrates in the UK rely on deadwood, from stag beetles and click beetles to bark beetles, longhorn beetles and many more! Some of our deadwood invertebrates are very rare indeed, often only found within the hollows of ancient trees in parkland.
Ancient trees often bear the scars of time; from lighting strikes, branches snapped, sheared or torn off in storms, or years of freeze-thaw which create ‘frost-cracks’ along the trunk.
In large, undisturbed woodlands these features steadily accumulate over long time periods, providing a variety of hollows, cracks, crevices and exposed deadwood for wildlife. Such places support healthy populations of cavity nesting birds and provide roosting opportunities for bats. Large tree cavities can be especially important in providing maternity and hibernation roosts for bats – particularly Soprano pipistrelles, which can number over 100 in one cavity!
Where these features are lacking in our woodlands, we can artificially induce them using ‘veteranisation’ techniques.* This can look quite brutal, but research over the last decade has shown that these techniques can indeed be an effective way to improve the variety of deadwood habitats.
Recently, the west reserves team have been experimenting with these techniques, in particular at Stoneycliffe Wood. We’ll be tracking the development of these features to see which species move in as the decay advances!
