Lodger in the log pile ?

[TerryH]

Hi,
Noticed this little hole ( about 8mm wide by 15 mm deep) in the end of a bit of black hearted ash on the log pile in the woods. Only placed it there a few days ago too. Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on what made it.. a beetle, a bee ?



I'm trying not to store too much firewood on-site but instead to bring it back home to season in the garden, under cover, however this interim on-site pile has got bigger as we've been processing the recent 'fallers'.
We have a good amount of dead wood lying around already but I suppose I can leave some more if there are tenants like this waiting to move in (my tax-payer backed 'Help to Bore' scheme , now extended to 2020 - lol ) and get the 'personal use' wood off-site a bit quicker.

Cheers
Terry

[Dexter's Shed]

no idea as to the lodger's identity, but have you not got a trail camera you could set up for photo evidence?

[oldclaypaws]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylocopa_violacea

http://169.237.77.3/news/images/plumwoodholeslarge.jpg

[TerryH]

No I haven't got a trailcam.. must get one though.
Yes it could be a carpenter bee I suppose although I thought they weren't so common in the UK. Heck, I don't want to bring one of those home by mistake and having it chewing through the floorboards!

It's got me thinking about the amount of deadwood we have available for insects though; there I was thinking we had plenty but having just done this survey ( http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-activities/coppice-and-dead-wood/ ), recommending 5m3 per hectare as a good guideline, I reckon we've only got half that amount despite our wood being very neglected coppice. It's increased a bit since we got the place but I think we can do a bit more.. in a way by doing a bit less !

Meanwhile we've got some nice big piles of brash in various places now (didn't have any last year) and the birds just love them. Had a nice little wren come down and serenade me while I worked last week