Water Filled Tree Cavities

Here are two pictures of just two places in the garden that hold water for much of the year.

In the crotch of the tree is a hollow space that often contains a murky debris filled pool of water.Even the logs lining paths through the woodland garden and in the wood pile have places that will sometimes hold water.
This was a concern of mine for years.
As a wildlife habitat gardener many such water holes exist throughout the garden. So what to do?
I have decided to do nothing and just leave them be.

Water is held in hollow stems,cupped leaves and even in the flowers of some insect eating plants like pitcher plant, so it would be impossible to remove all or keep fresh this abundance of life sustaining vernal pools.These micro habitats often contain the larvae or nymphs of flies(including hover flies),beetles, mites,mosquitoes and even dragonflies. Some tree frogs live and breed in what can be gallons of water in deep decayed tree hollows.Many bees and butterflies seem to prefer taking moisture from the water soaked sponge like decaying debris that always occurs.These creatures,including many micro organisms, eat each other and the decomposing materials.
Nature at work filling all the niches...



The above was written for (by myself) the Wildlife Gardeners Forum . The comments by fellow wildlife gardeners was interesting and encouraging.It fits here on the blog and gives me a chance to introduce a favorite place.
I recently was invited to join in the forum and did so promptly after reading a few entries.
It is a monitored site but civil disagreement is not discouraged.
What a wealth of information.
If you are a wildlife gardener or interested in joining the discussions about recent scientific inquiry concerning gardeners or wildlife gardening practices, then you should take a look.

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