This is why dead tree stumps are deliberately being planted in Milton Keynes parks during the freezing weather
Volunteers from The Parks Trust have been busy planted totally dead tree stumps in green spaces – but it’s for a very good reason.
The rotting stumps have been carefully designed to attract bugs to the city and provide a vital habitat for them to help the environment.
The creatures break down dead organic matter, pollinate plants and control pests, all actions that sustain the ecosystem and the survival of other species.
Though Milton Keynes has tens of thousands of trees, these healthy specimans do not provide enough deadwood to attract many bugs.
To combat the shortage of older sizeable trees, The Parks Trust has introduced standing deadwood poles, known as ‘snags’, to create invaluable habitat with the flaking bark and decaying heartwood that is used by many species of invertebrate.
Deadwood is known to support up to one in five woodland species, who depend upon it to complete their life cycles.
Kyra Turner, Community Ranger at The Parks Trust said “Our operations team pre-cut the logs, and then - like a colony of very angry beavers - we used various tools and teeth-like tools to hack, saw, drill into and rip up the logs as best we could.”
She added: "Creating these wounds helps to fast-forward the process of decay, meaning the invertebrates will be able to move in sooner.”
Despite the frozen soil at the time, the team of volunteers this month dug in and hoisted the logs upright into holes to provide nine new snags for wildlife in Middleton’s woodland meadow.