'It's a great habitat': Islanders urged to leave dead wood and pine cones alone

• Serena Sandhu has this report.

Guernsey Water and La Société Guernesiaise are urging visitors not to take wood or pine cones home with them from popular walking spots as they provide a vital habitat for small insects.

This includes the Millennium Walk around St Saviour's Reservoir, which is a wealth of wildlife and home to a variety of fungi.

And while many of us wouldn't know it, the dead wood lying around is just as important as the living trees.

Entomologist Trevor Bourgaize says "it is a great habitat for lots of very small insects that start at the bottom of the food chain."

Examining a nearby fallen tree, he can point out evidence that it is important for insects such as the beetle and wood lice to survive.

Pine cones are also important for the area's biodiversity.

He says: "Something called Collembola which is a tiny little insect, they go in the bottom of the pine cones because they are safe from predators then.

"20% of all life in a woodland is on dead wood so it is vitally important it is left in situation, if possible because when it breaks down it's good for mushrooms and other fungi and when it breaks right down it becomes food for the trees in the area and is a compost that gradually evolves.'

For this reason, people in Guernsey are urged to leave nature's litter as it lies to help protect some of the smallest insects the island has.