Don't Remove The Stone Pile From Your Yard & Let It Be A Safe Haven For Wildlife This Winter

When winter is approaching, it can be tempting to power through the remaining yard work that you neglected to complete in the more temperate months, but sometimes there are benefits to leaving a task unfinished. If you were planning on making a rock wall, adding a cobbled walkway, or just happen to have a collection of medium to large stones on hand, you may want to wait to complete your project until after the ground thaws. Plus, this gives you more time to consider other stone landscaping ideas. Not only will the soil be easier to work with as the temperature rises, but before it does, your pile of stones may serve another purpose: shelter for your local wildlife that will help them both survive and thrive through the winter months. 

Log piles are particularly great shelter for a number of animals — furred, feathered, or scaled — but what you may not know is that a rock pile could be just as effective. While log piles have the added benefit of providing food to some animals — mainly insects — rocks are much more effective for cold-blooded animals as they are able to hold more heat, helping to keep amphibians and reptiles warmer while still protecting them from wind and weather outside. Unlike wood and other organic matter, rocks will also not break down nearly as fast, so you can create a shelter that will last for years, or even decades, to come. No matter what time of year it is, there's no time like the present to start planning for ways to support wildlife in your yard before the first frost of winter hits. 

Wild animals can sometimes take a while to adjust to new surroundings, so if you already have a pile of rocks somewhere, you may want to leave it in place. If you are wanting to add one this winter, don't be surprised if it doesn't see a ton of action — just because it seems ignored for a season, it doesn't mean that it was a waste of time and effort. It may just take your local animals a bit to discover and trust the new shelter, so if you are able to leave it in place all year-round, it will be more familiar and welcome when the winter months come around. If it seems ignored, however, don't lose hope — it can take animals a couple years to cozy up to something new.

Creating a selection of different shelters will help to meet the needs of more animals, so having a pile of logs as well as piles of brush can offer a variety to choose from so that your local wildlife can select the best situation for them. There are actually quite a few benefits to having a brush pile in your backyard for attracting wildlife. It's not just shelter that these tiny creatures need to get them through winter. Planting winter interest berry bushes or leaving out some seeds and nuts is akin to an all you can eat buffet, and keeping the food and shelter in a concentrated area prevents prey animals from having to venture too far.