Creating Reptile/Amphibian Hibernacula & Refuges

Tree roots, deep leave litter, compost heaps, log piles and rock piles are locations that can be great refuges and over-wintering sites (hibernacula) for reptiles and amphibians - providing habitat, cover, locations to bask, and food.

A tidy log pile surrounded by good cover will gradually become over grown and will mature into a good refuge.

On a larger scale rubble, logs and soil can be mixed to create hibernacula - raised or partially buried in the ground (illustration below from Great Crested Newt Conservation Handbook, available from Froglife www.froglife.org).

Hibernacula can be seeded or covered in turfs and these can be located in various locations from within a wood (good winter refuges) to open habitat (good summer refuges). But the most suitable locations tend to benefit from both sun and shade.

Hibernacula backing onto suitable ’marginal’ habitat, with time to mature, can become ideal refuges. But there is a tendency for refuges to be too tidy, over-engineered, and even put in the wrong place. For example, a ’tidy’ log pile in a very open location in a popular country park will provide some shelter but little else. How do you get the balance between something that is natural and neither too ornamental or something that looks like it has been fly-tipped? Check out the next section.