13 May 2025
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New columnist Adam Kirtland shows us how to make a cosy habitat for insects this winter
Those that knows me , will be all too aware of my mania for all matter ‘ do it yourself ’ . Only outdoors though , ask me to put up a ledge in the planetary house and I ’ll run a naut mi , but get me in the garden with a drill , saw and hammer and I ’m raring to go . Ideas flow freely and if there is a atomic pile of woodwind instrument and some ass then I ’ll lather up a projection in no clock time .
Wood can be expensive today so pallet wood is a adept thrifty choice . pallet are used to circulate all manner of product , all over the world but once they ’ve served their design , they ’re often find pine away on drive , in builder merchants , and at recycling centres up and down the nation . That ’s where I swoop up in , take them home and craft them into something unique .
This hebdomad I ’m sharing one such project with you and its something that I live you ’ll be urge on to make at home too , for your own garden . How to make a good haven for hemipteran – a bug hotel ! you may buy these ready - made in garden sum and home DIY stores but my shibboleth is ‘ why buy , when you may make ! ’ .
First source your pallets
loosely they are innocent , or if not , they are sell very inexpensively so either means , it ’s a steal . For this project you ’ll only demand one palette , so you could always apply the remain wood to make more bug hotel to give away as Christmas presents for other green - fingered friends .
How to get bug out
To bust apart your pallet you may either use a pry bar ( if you ’ve got one ) or just a malleus . Once you ’ve broken it asunder , you ’ll be left with slats of woodwind .
Putting the structure together
For this sized hotel you ’ll need four slice that are about 30 cm foresighted ( two for the roof and two for the upright accompaniment ) , two 20 cm pieces for the top and bottom , one 17 cm piece of music for the middle and then two 14 cm pieces for the upright role in the middle . Once you ’ve skip those out with a proverb then you ’ll be able to piece the introductory structure of the hotel and then start to put it together with a hammer and nail .
fourth dimension to get creative
Once that ’s done , you could total chicken wire to one side and then impart your fillings , I use bits of former Sir Henry Joseph Wood , pinecones , and even old woolen . The aim here is to create different sized spaces for unlike bugs to use and it ’s fun to forage around the garden to see what you’re able to find . Then , add another piece of chicken telegram to the front to stop it all falling out and there you have , your own nursing home - made bug hotel .
You ’ve likely got most of these textile lying around already , so snaffle yourself a pallet and see what you’re able to make !
Happy make , touch on and do .
