Animals and nesting sites in the third dimension -- The list -- The development of the animal world in a dry stone wall with lateral ground contact -- Animals at the dry stone wall, the details -- Alpine salamander at the dry stone wall tidy up -- Ants in the dry stone wall -- Bats in the FREESTANDING dry-stone wall -- Beetles on dry stone walls will tidy up -- Birds in the dry stone wall -- Blindworms / slowworms on the dry wall tidy up -- Bugs on the dry stone wall -- Butterfly caterpillars on the dry stone wall -- Centipedes (millipedes) on the dry stone wall -- Hedgehogs at the dry wall clean up -- Insects in the dry stone wall -- Lizards on the dry wall -- Moles regulate pests -- Mouse and mice in the dry stone wall -- Reptiles on the dry stone wall: on the sunny side -- Snails at the dry wall -- Snakes at the dry wall -- Spiders on the dry wall -- Toads on the dry stone wall: on the shadow side -- Weasel (common weasel) at the dry wall tidy up -- Woodlice (isopods) in the dry stone wall

Animals and nesting sites in the third dimension -- The list -- The development of the animal world in a dry stone wall with lateral ground contact -- Animals at the dry stone wall, the details -- Alpine salamander will tidy up -- Ants -- Bats in the FREESTANDING dry-stone wall -- Beetles will tidy up -- Birds -- Blindworms / slowworms will tidy up -- Bugs -- Butterfly caterpillars -- Centipedes (millipedes) -- Hedgehogs will clean up -- Insects -- Lizards -- Moles regulate pests -- Mouse and mice -- Reptiles on the sunny side -- Snails -- Snakes -- Spiders: wolf spider will tidy up -- Toads on the shadow side -- Weasel (common weasel) will tidy up -- Woodlice (isopods)

---

The animal world in a dry stone wall

Climate change within a dry wall: planting the dry stone wall like a mosaic creates alternating sunny and shady places on the outer wall so that the settlements and colonization by animals can be increased [web06, p.9]. And a free standing dry stone wall with a dry south side creates a shadier, more humid north side at the same time.


The list of animals in a dry stone wall (with no claims of being complete)

The following animals are living on or in a dry wall:

-- alpine salamander (Salamandra atra) [web06, p.5], active during the night, eats insects, spiders, larvae, woodlice (isopods), snails, earthworms, etc. [web09]
[17]

-- ants [web06, p.7]  [1]

-- Birds are nesting in the upper area of a drywall [web02]; cave-breeding birds are in drywalls:

Tit and hoopoe on the dry stone wall [web06,S.11
[25] -- Great Tit (Parus major) [web22] eats insects, insect larvae, seeds, nuts, etc.	-- Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus, syn.: Parus caeruleus) [26] eats insects, spiders, seeds, fruits, etc.
-- Fir tit (Periparus ater, syn.: Parus ater) [27] eats insects, seeds of cones, etc.	-- Hoopoe (Upupa epops) [28] - eats insects, caterpillars, beetles, spiders, isopods,millipedes, earthworms etc.

Water birds at the dry stone wall in the wider shore area
-- White-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus) [29] eats water insects, fly larvae, gnats, larvae of gnats, water beetles, water snails, flea crabs, waterbugs, beetles, ants, milliipedes, spiders, etc.	-- White wagtail (Motacilla alba) [30] eats aquatic animals and field animals [web32], insects, spiders, larvae, worms, sometimes also ants [web33].
Gray wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) [31] [web06, S.11] eats among others: dragonflies, mosquitoes and smaller crustaceans, water insects, larvae of water insects, dipteras (Dipteren), mayflies, caddis flies, stoneflies, as well as spiders, hymenoptera and amphipods.

-- Blindworm / slowworm (Anguis fragilis) [web06,p.5] eat nudibranchs, earthworms, woodlice, beetles, aphids, ants, spiders, etc. [web08] [16]

-- Bats (Microchiroptera): they live in the wall crown of free-standing dry-stone walls [web06, S.11]  [4]

-- Beetles [web06, S.7]    [10,11]
     Carpet beetles - leaf beatles etc.

-- Bug [33]  [34] [web06, S.7] - penetrate into houses, if dry-stone walls as hiding place and the enemies are missing...

-- Butterfly caterpillar [web06, S.7]

-- Centipedes (Chilopoda) [web06, S.7]  [5]
--  Hedgehog (Eraniceidae) [web03; web06, p.10] eats insects, insect larvae, millipedes, earwigs, beetles, woodlice, snails, spiders, etc. [6]

-- Insects: bumble bees (Bombus), wasps, solitary bees [web06, S.9]      [7,8,9]
     -- bumble bees (Bombus)
     -- wasps (Vespinae) [web06, S.9], Wasps nest in the middle area [web02]
     -- wild bees [web03], e.g. solitary bees: tawny mining bee (Andrena fulva) [web06, S.9],

-- lizard [web03]  [3]
Lizard (is this a common wall lizard?) on a big stone in Machu Picchu on the top of the mountain Huayna Picchu

Lizards on dry stone walls
-- Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) [web02] [35] eats beetles, insect larvae, bugs, ants, spiders, etc.	-- Western green lizard (Lacerta bilineata) [38] eats among others: insects, spiders, snails, worms, isopods, etc.
-- European green lizard (Lacerta viridis) [39] eats among others: insects, spiders, isopods, snails, mice, etc.	-- Common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) [40] eats among others: insects, spiders, etc.
--  Viviparous lizard or common lizard (Lacerta vivipara) [41] eats among others: spiders, ants, flies, insects, centipedes, millipedes, worms, snails, etc.	Horvath's rock lizard [42] (Iberolacerta horvathi; before: Lacerta horvathi) eats possible insects, arachnids and snails

-- Millipedes (Myriapoda) [web06, S.7]  [22]

-- Mouce eating - mice [web02; web06, S.7]  [15]

-- Snails with narrow snail shells [web06, S.7]
     -- the door snails (Clausiliidae) with its elongated snail shell also live in dry-stone walls [web06, S.7]  [23]
     -- stone picker snail [?] (Helicigona lapicida) with its flattened snail shell also lives in dry walls [web06, S.7]  [24]

-- Snakes [web06, S.7], z.B.
     -- the Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca) in dry stone walls in vineyards    [19]
     eats mice, nestling mice, lizards, lizard eggs, blindworms, young snakes, toads, large insects, young birds, bird eggs, earthworms, etc.

     -- the Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus, syn.: Elaphe longissima) in stony, dry areas [web12]  [20]
     eats mice, lizards, birds, young birds, bird eggs, rarely dormice, mole, squirrels, weasels, bats, insects, etc.

     -- the dice snake (Natrix tessellata) lives in waters, but hibernates in crevices or dry walls etc. [web13] eats fish  [21]

-- Spiders [web06, S.9]

-- Toads (on shady sites): eat worms, snails, spiders, insects, etc.
   -- Earth toads (Bufo bufo) eat insects and snails during the night [web02]  [12]
   -- Green toads (Bufotes viridis) eat insects and snails during the night [web02]  [13]

-- Weasel (common weasel, Mustela nivalis) eats mice [web02], eats e.g. mice (5 per day), rats, small birds, bird eggs, lizards, etc. [14]

-- Wolf spiders (Lycosidae) hunt insects and snails at night [web02]  [36]
eats insects, ground animals, aphids, flies, beetles, small spiders, etc.

-- Woodlice (isopods) [web06, p.7]  [2]


The development of the animal world in a dry stone wall with lateral ground contact

If the ecosystem around the dry-stone wall is intact, the animals discover the new dry stone wall. First come the "fast walkers", the ants and the bugs. [Ants also carry plant seeds around?]. If the conditions are right and enough loopholes are built in the wall, reptiles (lizards, snakes) and small mammals (mice) also come. Later there are also animals that migrate less quickly (arthropods such as centipedes, millipedes and beetles). In old dry-stone walls live also animals, which hardly migrate, which need years for their migration: snails and isopods (in humid positions with earth pads) [web06, p.4].

A dry stone wall is heavily populated when it is built in an intact ecosystem:

When the dry-stone wall was built in a region with many flower meadows, many pollinating insects will come and nest there (wild bees, wasps, bumble bees). And when the dry-stone wall was built in a region with ponds or little lakes, then frogs and toads will also come when the dry stone wall is not exposed to the blazing sun [Conclusion Palomino].

Nocturnal animals use the dry stone wall during the day as sleeping quarters: woodlice, amphibians etc. [web06, p.5]. [web06, p.5].

Dry stone wall as a breeding place: Solitary bees and solitary wasps build their nests in the dry wall. Some butterfly caterpillars like to pupate on a dry stone wall: Caterpillars of white butterflies (Pieridae) tend to adhere to vertical surfaces for pupation. Caterpillars of fox butterflies (Vanessae) attach themselves to the pupation under stone ledges. And mice are breeding in the dry stone wall [web06, p.5].

Hunting on dry stone walls: Spiders, reptiles and carnivore insects hunt inhabitants of dry stone walls: butterfly caterpillars, lacewings, solitary bees, solitary wasps, beetles and bugs [web06, p.5].

The dry-stone wall as wintering ground for wintering: When the dry stone wall has direct side contact with the ground, animals can also dig themselves into it and spend the winter there [web06, p.9]. Deep cracks and cavities of the wall, where the microclimate remains frost-free, can be used by amphibians and reptiles for overwintering. The animals dig themselves into humus and sand: toads, salamanders, lizards, blindworms, snakes. Frost-free fissures are used by perennial insects (bumble bee queens) for wintering. Some butterfly caterpillars and butterfly pupae spend the winter in frost-free cracks. When the cavities on the ground are filled with leaves, hedgehogs also spend the winter there [web06, p.5].


Animals at the dry stone wall, the details

Alpine salamander at the dry stone wall tidy up

Alpine salamander (Salamandra atra) [17]

Alpine salamanders hardly change their habitat [web09], and where they are they clean up at night:

Where should the dry stone wall be? In the mountains from the Jura over the Alps to the Balkans between 800 and 2000m above sea level. During the day the alpine salamander lives in hiding under stones and tree stumps [web61], always in a microclimate of mountain streams with high humidity [web62], at night it goes hunting [web61]. There are no migrations, but by some rare reasons can be found also in some lowland regions due to transport due to storms etc. The alpine salamander is active from April to October. There is winter rigidity from November to March in small caves [web09].

What they eat:
-- during the night (nocturnal): insects, spiders, larvae, isopods, snails, earthworms [web09] beetles, nudibranchs (slugs), worms, small animals [web61].
-- after rainfalls it is also active during the day [web09].

Enemies: above all magpie, alpine chough, occasionally viper. The defensive action is a toxic skin secretion [web09].


Ants in the dry stone wall

Ants [1]

Ants are fast hikers and are among the first to repopulate a new dry stone wall [web06, p.4].


Bats in the FREESTANDING dry-stone wall

Bats (Microchiroptera) [4]

Where should the dry stone wall be located? Bats live in the crown of the wall of FREESTANDING solo dry walls in the area of medium to maximum solar radiation. One can install straw-filled cavities into the crown of the wall [web06, p.11].


Beetles on dry stone walls will tidy up

For example: carpet beetle (Dermestidae) [10]   Leaf beetle (Chrysomelidae) [11]

What they eat: Beetles eat remains in other nests (e.g. the carpet beetles is acting like this) [web07]
Carpet beetles (translation): "Most of them are scavengers and eat dead, dried animals and insect remains, even in houses and apartments. But there are also some that eat plant parts and pollen. The beetles can cause considerable damage to wool fabrics, fur, and in collections of insects and animals. However, they are also used by museums (especially Dermestes maculatus) to clean soft tissue from animal skeletons." [web07]

-- myrmecophilic beetle species e.g. the leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae) place eggs in ant nests, the larvae live in ant nests (e.g. genus Clytra etc.) [web07]
-- some beetle species live on other animals (ectoparasitic): Leptinus testaceus on mice, beaver flea (Platypsyllus castoris) on beavers [web07]
-- some beetle larvae are parasites and grow in puparia of flies (Diptera) in the subgroup Cyclorrapha [web07]


Birds in the dry stone wall are cave breeders: common wheatear, dipper, wagtail, tit birds, hoopoe [web06, p.11].

-- Birds: Tit (Great Tit, Blue Tit, Fir Tit): they are nesting in the upper half of the wall, not too deep inside the wall, access 3cm, base of the cave 12x12cm [web6, p.11].

Great tit:
Great Tit (Parus major) [25]

Where should the dry-stone wall be located? In the area of intact, pesticide-free small field agriculture:
Translation: "Nests are built in tree hollows, nesting boxes or other cavities and there are usually laid between six and twelve eggs." [web22]

What they eat: What lives around the cave, especially insects, insect larvae, plant food such as seeds and nuts [web22].

Enemies: Parasites, insecticides, weather storms [destroying trees], pesticides, infectious diseases, sparrowhawks, cats, falcons, magpies and humans [web27].

Blue tit:
Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus, syn.: Parus caeruleus) [26]

Where should the dry stone wall be located? In the area of intact, pesticide-free small field agriculture:
Translation: "Blue tits usually breed in tree hollows, and nesting boxes are also frequently accepted. The main competitor for breeding caves and foraging is the clearly larger great tit." [web23]. [web23]

What they eat: Animal food, during the incubation above all insects and spiders, outside the incubation also often seeds and "vegetable food" [web23].

Enemies, who eat nestlings: Martens, weasels, great woodpecker (extends the entrance of caves in trees) [web23].

Enemies eating the adult blue-titmice:
-- Birds: Birds of prey, above all. sparrowhawk [web23,web26], peregrine falcon, magpie [web26].
-- Mammals: cats [web26]
-- Parasites, infectious diseases [web26]
-- Storm with storm damage destroying trees [web26]
-- the industrial capitalist HUMAN: with pesticides [web26].

Fir tit:
Fir tit (Periparus ater, syn.: Parus ater) [27]

Where must the dry-stone wall stand? In the fir forest:
The nest is laid in tree hollows, rock caves, burrows and crevices with moss, roots, stalks, lichens and wool, with 5 to 12 eggs [web24].
What they eat: insects, seeds of conifers [web24].
Enemies: sparrowhawk, magpie, jay [web25] - and the industrial capitalist HUMAN BEING by deforestation [web25].

-- Birds: Hoopoe (Upupa epops):

Hoopoe (Upupa epops) [28]

Where should the dry stone wall be located? In the area of intact, pesticide-free small field agriculture:
The dry-stone wall must stand in the vicinity of orchards, sunny flower meadows, pastures or organic fields where hoopoes live [web06, p.11]. The hoopoe nests in caves, e.g. also takes over caves of the hollow dove [web28]. The cave for a hoopoe in a dry wall can already be prepared during construction of the dry stone wall, e.g. at a height of about 50cm, 20 to 40cm deep in the dry wall, the access must be 5-8cm high, base of the cave 20x20cm, height of the cave 15-20cm [web06, p.11].

What they eat: Hoopoe prey mostly on the ground [on meadows and fields], rarely in flight; they eat mainly larger insects (field crickets, mole crickets, grubs), also various caterpillars and beetles, rarely spiders, woodlice (isopods), millipedes, earthworms), occasionally frogs, lizards, bird eggs, birds nestlings [web28].

Enemies:
-- industrial capitalist HUMANS install monocultures to destroy the biodiversity of ground animals and destroy breeding sites [web29]
-- enemy animals are: the birds of prey [web28]: Goshawk, Falcon, Sparrowhawk, Raven, as well as: Cats, weasels (ermine), stone martens, snakes, and the storms: storms with fallen trees, heavy rain, hail [web29].

-- Birds: Dipper (Cinclus cinclus): is nesting in wall niches directly at waters (e.g. under bridges in the abutment area) [web06, p.11]

Dipper (Cinclus cinclus) [29]

Where should the dry-stone wall be located? Near the waters:
Translation: "The species builds extensive spherical nests in half caves or natural caves along its feeding waters, in embankments as well as under bridges and other river-accompanying structures. It is a nonmigratory bird and only leaves its breeding waters when they freeze over" [web30]. [web30]

What they eat: Dippers feed almost exclusively on water insects:  Larvae of caddis flies, day flies, stoneflies, net-winged midges, and black flies, less the larvae of gnats and the gnats themselves, as well as various water beetles, freshwater snails, worms, flea crabs, waterbugs play a certain role, occasionally small fish, especially cottids, fish spawn and more rarely tadpoles. On land, dippers occasionally feed on beetles, ants, millipedes and spiders. The young are fed from larvae of day flies, later predominate larvae of caddis flies [web30].

Enemies:
-- industrial capitalist HUMANS through sport in water areas (fishing, rafting, canoeing) [web31];
-- enemy animals: nest plunderers are: weasels, foxes, rats. Hunters of young nestlings and young dippers and old water dippers are: robber-seagulls, sparrowhawks, falcons. But by diving into the water they hardly have a chance [web31].

-- Birds: Wagtail (Motacilla alba) [web06, p.11]

Wagtail (Motacilla alba) [30]
    
Where should the dry stone wall be located? Near the waters:
Wagtails nest in suitable niches in higher structures such as buildings, groups of trees, etc., especially near waters around farming villages [web32], also under bridges in the abutment area [web06, p.11]. Wagtails are migratory birds, in North Africa they colonize waters, coasts, oases, wells and nomadic sites [web32].

What they eat: Wagtails feed on aquatic animals and field animals [web32], insects, spiders, larvae, worms, sometimes also ants [web33].

Enemies: Birds of prey and ravens (falcons, sparrow hawks, crows, magpie, etc.), cats, parasites, humans [when degenerate technology humans destroy the habitat at waters, e.g. straighten rivers and build highways at the straightened river], the weather [heavy rain, hail, fallen trees], and infectious diseases. Stupid industrialist capitalist HUMAN destroys their habitat [web33].

-- Birds: Gray Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) [web06, p.11]

Gray wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) [31]

Where must the dry stone wall stand? At rushing waters:
Gray wagtails in the mountains live on waters in the mountains [web35] "where the water rushes" and a lot of debris goes back and forth [web36], in the lowlands also near mills, barrages, weirs, overflowing canals [web36]. They nest in caves, niches and buildings [web37]: In "structures such as steep banks, bridges, weirs and mills", in holes in the ground or wall niches near water [web34], they also nest in wall niches directly at waters (e.g. under bridges in the abutment area) [web06, p.11], sometimes also in special nesting boxes [web34]. Standing waters and waters with slow flow speeds are avoided [resp. are left to other birds] [web36]. Gray wagtails usually lay 5 eggs [web34]. Often, they breed twice per season, sometimes changing their location [web36].

What they eat (translation): "They feed on insects like dragonflies, mosquitoes as well as smaller crustaceans [web35], water insects, larvae of water insects, diptera flies, day flies, caddis flies, stoneflies, next to them spiders, hymenoptera, amphipods [web36]. They fly either densely over the water-surface on that occasion or however they run through the water and peck in." [web35]

Enemies:
-- [probably birds of prey, but it can swim and dive when enemies come].
-- The criminal industrial capitalist HUMAN destroys the habitats manipulating the waters with stream straightening, river-bed construction, piping, planting spruce forest, agricultural use of bank and floodplain areas. Thereby the population of stoneflies, caddis flies and mayflies etc. decreases and the gray wagtail is loosing its food sources [web39].

Blindworms / slowworms on the dry wall tidy up

Blindworm / slowworm (Anguis fragilis) [16]

Where should the dry stone wall be? In the area of intact, pesticide-free small field agriculture - with sunny areas:
Blindworms live in the cover of high vegetation on moderately humid soils, need hiding places (e.g. tree stumps, grass felts etc.) and need sun places to warm up underneath. Blindworms often live on the edge of forests, on forest clearings, in heaths, in moors, on grassy areas, on rudder fields, on roadsides, on railway lines, in gardens, in parks [web57].

What they eat: Blindworms are out in the morning and during the late afternoon cleaning up [web08]:
-- they eat by means of their sharp teeth [web57] above all nudibranchs (field slugs as well as little big slugs), earthworms and hairless caterpillars [web08].
-- also as a side dish: woodlice (isopods), glomeridans, grasshoppers, beetles, beetle larvae, aphids, cicadas, ants, small spiders [web08]

Enemies:
-- Animals: snakes (especially the smooth snake), mammals like fox, foxes, badgers, polecats, ermines, hedgehogs, wild boars and rats as well as numerous birds (storks, herons, birds of prey, owls, ravens, stranglers) [web08], martens [web58], also at settlements: domestic cats, dogs and chickens [web08].

Enemies of the young blindworms are also: thrushes, starlings, shrews, large ground beetles, earth toads, lizards and young snakes [web08].
and
-- the industrial capitalist-HUMAN: habitats are destroyed by "land consolidation" or by "afforestation" and therefore the existence of blindworms is made impossible [web57].
-- the industrial capitalist-HUMAN: In settlement areas, slowworms are killed by humans or poisoned by slug pellets [web57]
-- the industrial capitalist-HUMAN: When forests get denser and denser and blindworms only find light on the forest paths, they are often run over by vehicles [web57].


Bugs on the dry stone wall

The design of bugs is very different:
    
Bug design (Heteroptera), examples [32] - Bug Heteroptera [33] - Fire bug (Pyrrhocoridae) [34]

Where must the dry stone wall stand? In the garden:
Depending on the subspecies, bugs prefer more humid habitats, live in moors, sandy areas, salty areas, or live in waters or on the water surface, or live on the sea. Bugs on land suck on plants, eat other animals, suck on animals, live on meadows, at forest edges, in the forest. Only bedbugs invade houses and harass people [web40].

When dry stone walls are missing, bugs penetrate houses: Bugs spend the winter in crevices, in cracks or in tree cavities [web42], or under leaves, bark or under compost heaps [web44]. In urban areas without dry stone walls and without tree-caves, bugs then look for hibernation-quarters also in cracks of doors, windows or roller-shutter-boxes [web42].

Enemies:
-- animals: Sand Lizard (Lacerta agilis) [web45]
-- coconut oil? Coconut oil with lauric acid expels ticks, lice, mites (autumn mite, also: grass mite, hay mite, grass louse, earth louse, earth mite), insects, fleas and fleas' eggs (only preventive effect and with small infestation), and worms [web45]. This may also be the case with bugs [thesis Palomino].

Bugs: Fire bug:
Fire bug (Pyrrhocoridae)

-- enemies are insectivores, birds [web41], sand lizards [web45]
-- fire bugs make themselves inedible with a secretion and birds will not eat fire bugs next time. One has to collect fire bugs and place them away in the garden. One can spray a nest of bugs with a mixture of rinsing water and soapy water and the fogged bugs will die in minutes. Fire bugs spend the winter under leaves, bark or compost heaps. Before spring, one can spot entire clusters of firebugs under leaves and bark on their host plants, lime trees or mallows, and deport them to the forest. Another method: brushwood or shavings of a balsam fir scattered under the host plants lime or mallow prevent the offspring from becoming fully grown and capable of regrowth. [web44].

-- In Asia, the stink bug or the green vegetable bug have as enemies some species of ichneumon wasps: These lay their eggs in the clutches of bugs [web42].

Bugs: bedbugs

Drive bedbugs away: Bedbugs do not tolerate steam above 50ºC, turmeric powder provokes a respiratory arrest, temperatures above 32ºC expel bedbugs (place mattress and linen in the sun), mint, mint oil or lavender oil, cloves expel bugs and ants, spray isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) several times a week [web43].


Butterfly caterpillars on the dry stone wall

Butterflies lay their eggs on certain plants when they grow on the dry wall, so that butterfly caterpillars crawl on the dry wall (at certain locations with certain food plants, e.g. lichen, sedum (stonecrop)). [web06, p.4].

Some butterfly caterpillars like to pupate on a dry stone wall: Caterpillars of white butterflies (Pieridae) tend to adhere to vertical surfaces for pupation. Caterpillars of fox butterflies (Vanessae) attach themselves to the pupation under stone ledges [web06, p.5].


Centipedes (millipedes) on the dry stone wall are vegetarians:

Millipedes (Myriapoda) [22]

What they eat: Translation: "Most species need neither live food nor special lighting, nor heating usually. As food they are happy with soil substrate with semi-decayed leaves, white rotted wood and occasional fruit offerings" [web14], sweet fruits [web20].

Enemies: millipedes are the food of ants, rodents, birds [web15] like hoopoe [web28], dippers [web30], hedgehogs [web17], chickens love to eat millipedes [web16]. Further enemies are: Toads, short wings (staphylinids), also tachine larvae (from dipters or blow flies), also mites [web18], mice, reptiles [web19], moles [web21], forest lizards [web73] etc.


Hedgehogs at the dry wall clean up

Hedgehog (Eraniceidae) [6]

Where? The spiny hedgehog lives in Europe, Africa, Asia, the moonrat (rat hedgehog) lives only in Southeast Asia. The spiny ant eater (ant hedgehog) in Australia is not a hedgehog [web79]; hedgehogs are active in the night, hibernation from November [web80].

Where must the dry-stone wall stand? Sunny locations with piles of leaves and rough meadows with flowers:
Dry habitats, light forests, grasslands, varied agricultural areas, settlement areas [web79]. Hedgehogs live in alternately structured cultural landscapes, with heaps of leaves [web80], in leaves under hedges, in field shrubs, also in closed forests [deciduous forests] [web81], rough bloomy meadows, bushes and hedges, which are becoming increasingly rare today. Hedgehogs therefore move to settlement areas [web80], where they live in untidy, near-natural gardens with heaps of brushwood, compost heaps, heaps of leaves, in piles of wood, hedges, bushes, shrubs, wild plants [?] [web81].

Desert hedgehogs and long-eared hedgehogs live in steppes and deserts, the moonrat (rat hedgehog) lives in Southeast Asia in humid habitats in the rainforest [web79].

Hibernation: The hibernation must take place in a safe, frost-free and dry hiding place, where it already sleeps during the day in summer, under heaps of leaves, etc. [web80], e.g.
-- Hedgehogs are padding the cave with leaves for hibernation [web81]
-- Hedgehogs survive the winter at the foot of dry walls on the south and west sides in dry caves under leaves. One can install these caves intentionally into the wall, the caves should be able to be opened for cleaning [web06, p.10].ç

What they eat:
Hedgehogs live in large piles of leaves in gardens or in deciduous forests, and the pile of leaves attracts animals that are its food: woodlice (isopods), earthworms, snails, beetles [web81], or they search for food on lean bloomy meadows, or in dead wood [web80]:
-- mainly insects (bottom invertebrates): insects, insect larvae, annelid worms [web79], centipedes (centipedes) [web17], earwigs, beetles, ground beetles, woodlice (isopods), snails (they crack snail shells), larger insects (they crack insect shells), butterflies, moths, earthworms, spiders, bird eggs [web80]
-- small vertebrates [web79], mice nestlings, eggs, bird nestlings, young chickens up to 8 days old [web81]
-- carrion [web79]
-- plant material: roots, fruits [web79], fallen fruit by the way, because worms and maggots are often found in them [web80].
-- DO NOT give milk to hedgehogs, because hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and cannot break down lactose, can be fatal [web79].

Enemies:
-- Against enemies he resists his horny hair in the air, 6000 to 8000 [web80]
-- Streets and "modern settlements": The industrial capitalist HUMAN destroys the hedgehog's habitat and hiding places by building roads, settlements with insurmountable barriers, fences and walls [there are no hedgehog passages, hedgehog tunnels in garden walls?], gardens and parks are well "organized" by the industrial capitalist human and have only sterile lawns without flowers, but pesticides [web80].
-- Sterile gardens: the industrial capitalist HUMAN is always presenting "clean" gardens and green areas, therefore hedges, shrubs and heaps of leaves are removed and sterile lawns are laid out, pesticides eliminate snails and other hedgehogs food, the hedgehog eats dead, poisoned animals and is poisoning himself then also [web80]
-- Monoculture-Pesticide-Agriculture: The industrial capitalist HUMAN spreads the monoculture pesticide agriculture, destroys all niches (hedges, cracks, shrubs) by "clearing up" and destroys the hedgehog's food by pesticides [web80]
-- Some hedgehog populations remain isolated and tend to inbreeding and to reproductive inability [web80].

Insekten und Spinnen (auch räuberische Spinnen) werden am besten mit einer Magerwiese neben der Trockenmauer unterstützt. - Insekten und Schnecken können in frostfreien Gebieten mit Feinmaterial wie Sand, Lehm und Humus angezogen werden [web06, S.9]. Wer in Regionen mit Frostwintern lebt, sollte diese Materialien wegen möglichen Frostschäden an Steinen NICHT in einer Trockenmauer verwenden, sondern eher ausserhalb [web06, S.9-10].


Insects in the dry stone wall

Insects and spiders (also predatory spiders) are best supported by a rough bloomy meadow next to the dry wall. - Insects and snails can be attracted when during the construction of the dry wall frost-free areas are included with fine material such as sand, clay and humus [web06, p.9]. Installing a dry stone wall in regions with frosty winters these materials should NOT be used in a dry wall because of possible frost damage to stones, but such materials can be put rather outside of the dry wall [web06, p.9-10].

Insects: solitary bees

Wild bee: Solitary bee: Red-furred sand bee (Andrena fulva) [9]

Solitary bees live on dry walls in caves with maximum solar radiation [web06, p.11].

Insect hotels integrated in a dry stone wall ARE OUT OF PLACE: Insect hotels as wooden blocks with drillings 3 to 9mm or bamboo tubes must have a large canopy and stand in very sheltered places. Dry walls are not suitable as a place for such insect hotels, because they have no weather protection [web78].

Enemies: Pesticides, fatty meadows without flowers.

Insects: Wasps

Wasp (Vespinae) [8]

Wasps live on dry walls in caves with maximum sunlight [web06, p.11].

Enemies: Pesticides, fatty meadows without flowers.

Insects: Bumble bees

Bumblebee (Bombus) [7]

Bumble bees live on dry walls in maximum sunlight positions in wall caves. Fill the cave with nesting material (wood wool, hay) and cover the nesting cave with a large plate against water damage. Possibly the bumble bee nest is at the top and the cover plate is a capstone of the wall crown, so you can also open the capstone [web06, p.11]. Frost-free fissures are used by perennial insects (bumble bee queens) for wintering [web06, p.5].

Enemies: pesticides, fatty meadows without flowers.

Bees and bumble bees are always best fed with flower-rich bloomy lean meadows [web06, p.11].


Lizards on the dry wall
Lizard (wall lizard?) on a big stone in Machu Picchu on the top of the mountain Huayna Picchu [3]

True lizard (Lacertidae) lives in Europe, Africa and Asia [web63].

"In Germany and Switzerland there are five species, the Sand Lizard (Lacerta agilis), the Western (L. bilineata) and Eastern Emerald Lizard (L. viridis), the Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis) and the Forest Lizard (Zootoca vivipara). In southern Austria the Croatian mountain lizard (Iberolacerta horvathi) is added" [web63].

Lizards: Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis)

Sand Lizard (Lacerta agilis) [35]

Where should the dry stone wall be located? In the area of intact, pesticide-free small field agriculture:
The sand lizard normally inhabits lean biotopes (dry forest edges), railway embankments, heath areas, dunes, quarries, gravel pits, wild gardens with alternating vegetation, sometimes open and sometimes densely overgrown, in cold climates only in warming places, in areas with loose residential buildings. Deadwood and old grass are important. "In high heat, bad weather and at night, sand lizards hide in their shelters." [web45]
Sand lizards like open, little cultivated areas, open fields, clearings, firebreaks in forests, ruderal places [web47].

What they eat: Insects such as grasshoppers, cicadas, beetles and insect larvae, bugs, ants [web45], crickets [web46], as well as spiders and earthworms. They drink from dew and raindrops [web45].

Enemies:
-- Birds: birds of prey, ravens, starling, pheasant (installed by humans), merl (blackbird) [web64]
-- Mammals: martens, fox, foxes, hedgehogs [web64]
-- Reptiles: smooth snake [web64]
-- Eggs of sand lizards are eaten by mole crickets and by ground beetles [web64]
-- there is no evidence for domestic cats acting against sand lizards [web64] - [controlling stomach content]
-- Wild boars destroy hibernation places, but at the same time create new egg laying places [web64]
-- The industrial capitalist HUMAN: The habitat is systematically destroyed by road construction, settlement construction and machine pesticide agriculture. The intensive agriculture destroys the small structures, wasteland and sleeping fields are "cultivated", edge strips and embankments are destroyed and also planted with fatty meadows etc. [web45], the habitat is systematically destroyed by road construction, settlement construction and machine pesticide agriculture etc. [web45], open sites are no longer permitted, everything is machine-managed or bushy or afforested, or in cities ruderal sites are converted into parks without retreat areas; tourists drive lizards from sand dunes or heathland [web47].

In the poisoned Shitzerland (Switzerland) the sand lizard is on the red list of endangered species, in Germany and Austria the sand lizard is on the early warning stage of the red list [web45].

Lizards: Western green lizard (Lacerta bilineata)

Western green lizard (Lacerta bilineata) [38]

Where: From northern Spain via France, western Germany to Italy and Pula (Croatia). Especially in low and middle altitudes, up to 2200m above sea level [web76], in Germany only in the warm valleys: Rhine valley, Mosel valley [web77]; active during the day, likes sun bath [web76].

Where must the dry-stone wall stand? Warm sunny locations:
Habitats: preferably warm, slightly moist habitats on sunny slopes, vineyards, blackberry bushes, gravel dumps, semi-dry grasslands, forest margins, field margins with weeds [web76].

What they eat: Insects, spiders, snails, worms [web76], woodlice (isopods), small vertebrates (e.g. nestling mice), reptile eggs, nestlings of other reptiles, berries [web77].

Enemies:
-- Reptiles: Snakes (e.g. smooth snake) [web77]
-- Birds: birds of prey, red-backed shrike, chicken birds [web77]
-- Mammals: domestic cats, shrews, hedgehogs, fox, foxes, martens [web77]
-- the industrial capitalist HUMAN destroys habitats through "land consolidation", by more traffic route systems, allowing scrubland, reforestation of semi-open habitats [web77].

Lizards: Eastern green lizard (Lacerta viridis)

Eastern green lizard (Lacerta viridis) [39]

Where? From Southern France via Italy via the Balkans to the Black Sea [web65], in Central Europe sporadically in warm climates (Middle Rhine, Kaiserstuhl, Southwest Germany, Danube Valley, grows to over 30cm long [web66].

Where must the dry-stone wall be installed? Warm sunny locations with shrubs and undergrowth:
The eastern green lizard lives in cracks and cavities - on sunny slopes, therefore [in the northern hemisphere] on south-eastern, southern and south-western locations, with sufficient humidity [web65] - in southern Italy and the southern Balkans only in humid locations or in mountainous regions [web65,web67] - in mixed vegetation, e.g. dry forest edges, grassy vineyards, semi-dry grasslands (NO sterile grass!), broom heaths, steppe heaths, blackberry thickets, railway embankments, road embankments, meadows with sloe bushes, orchards. During the day they often lie in the sun or look for food in the plant bushes [web65] - blackberry bushes, embankments, dry meadows, on the edge of vineyards, in old orchards [web66], on the edge of dense vegetation and bushes, wine-growing areas, roadsides, on walls [web67].

What they eat: Larger insects, spiders [web65,web67], rarely other things [web67] like woodlice (isopods), snails and small vertebrates (for example young mice), reptile eggs and young animals (nestlings) of reptiles, berries [web65], worms, snails, small lizards, small rodents [mice], young snakes, sometimes also fruits [web66], mice nestlings, reptiles nestlings [web67].

Enemies:
-- Birds: birds of prey, red-backed shrike, chicken (eat mainly the nestlings) [web65].
-- Reptiles: Snakes (smooth snake) [web65]
-- Mammals: domestic cats, shrews, hedgehogs, fox, foxes and martens [web65] weasels [web66]
-- The industrial capitalist HUMAN destroys habitats, destroys bushes, destroys undergrowth, poisons lizards with pesticides [web66].

Lizards: wall lizard (Podarcis muralis)

Wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) [40]

Where? Northern Spain-France, in Germany in the warm valleys (Rhine, Moselle, Ahr, Lahn, Neckar [web69]), Italy-Austria-Balkans-North-Turkey, and they were released in many cities (up to Vancouver) [web68]. Introduced lizards also cross with others, so that mixed occurrences develop, e.g. in Holland [web70]. From October to March there is winter rigidity [web69].

Where should the dry-stone wall be located? In warm sunny locations, and the wall must be overgrown:
Wall lizards nest and live in the wild on sunny walls, [in the northern hemisphere] on southeast, south or southwest walls with joints, cracks, crevices and cavities [web68,web70], some of which must also be covered with vegetation [web70], or in self-digged corridors. In the night and during the midday heat, they rest in shady places [web68]. Especially in southeastern and southwestern locations they lie in the sun in the morning and afternoon [web68].

in the wild on rock faces, in scree areas, on vertical walls in quarries [web68] (man-made rock landscapes [web70]), on dry grasslands interspersed with scree, on gravel banks of large rivers, on dry walls [web70], also in warm, light forests [web69].

in man-made landscapes:

-- in vineyards, on railway embankments [web68], on railway installations, in freight stations [web70], on road embankments, on buildings in settlements and towns [web68], in freight sheds [web70], in castle ruins [web68], on intact castles [web70].
-- on dry stone walls: A dry-stone wall or the surroundings of a dry stone wall should be overgrown in a variety of ways, attracting insects, but should also have bare areas for sunbathing [web68]. They live along the whole wall from top to bottom [web68],
-- in gabion retaining walls [web70].

What they eat: Insects, spiders, other animals that are attracted to the wall by the vegetation - and sweet fruits that grow on the wall [web69].

Enemies:
-- the industrial capitalist HUMAN destroys many natural habitats [web68,web70] by "clearing up" the landscape (vineyard consolidation), rock walls with wall lizards are defined as "climbing walls" and all small piles of rubble are "cleaned away" [web68].
-- Pesticides by the railway companies, and: conversion of mixed meadow land for settlement construction [web68].
-- The industrial capitalist HUMAN destroys the many natural habitats, so that often only the dry walls remain in the vineyards, or often not even the dry walls: by "land consolidation" and "transformation" of vineyards into machine-compatible vineyards the dry walls are destroyed, or new, jointless concrete walls are erected, and everything is poisoned with pesticides. Steep vineyards are often abandoned, bushes are left and the bushes not leaving any habitat for the lizards any more [web70].
-- the industrial capitalist HUMAN redefines areas, is converting freight stations into commercial areas and therefore wall lizards are driven out. When "renovating" ruins and castles, the masons destroy all cavities, plaster the cracks, and thus expel all wall lizards from the sunny castles and ruins [web70].

Lizards: Viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara or Lacerta vivipara)
also common lizard [web72]. From October to March is winter rigidity [web73].

Viviparous lizard (Lacerta vivipara) [41]

Where? From Ireland to Northern Spain (mountain areas) - Central Europe (mountain areas) - Eastern Europe - Russia - Japan [web71]. Pioneers migrate. The variation between egg-laying or viviparous allows also the stay in colder regions, where births are carried out [web71]. In emergency situations it also swims under water for a while [web73].

Where must the dry-stone wall stand? In sunny locations in forest areas or in the landscape along streams and rivers:
Moors, heaths, grasslands, quarries, sand pits, dunes, forests, forest edges, rough edges [rough meadows with bushes] on embankments and clearings, lives in humid places, is also often in the water and swims through whole rivers [web71]. Within forests, forest lizards also live in clear-cut areas, in aisles, along roadsides, in deadwood, in heaps of wood, in tree stumps, on plank paths, on ridges, on wooden bridges [web72].

What they eat: smaller prey animals: spiders, centipedes, grasshoppers, ants, flies, plant lice and cicadas [web71], insects, worms [web72], millipedes, snails [web73].

Enemies:
-- Reptiles: snakes, especially adder and smooth snake [web71].
-- Birds of prey [web71]: kestrel [web73]
-- Mammals: martens, wild boars destroy winter quarters in the ground [web71], domestic cats [web73]
-- Ground beetles eat the nestlings [web71]
-- Near human settlements: stray cats, domestic cats [web71]
-- The industrial capitalist HUMAN is destroying more and more meager meadows and biotopes (heath, forest edges), eliminating shelter such as deadwood, stone heaps, natural stone walls, reforesting areas so that important sun sites are lost, and poisoning fields with pesticides, where the feed animals poison themselves or at least contaminate, so that the contamination is passed on to the forest lizards; and the pesticides are decimating and destroying the stock of prey insects [web71].

Lizards: Croatian mountain lizard (Iberolacerta horvathi; previously: Lacerta horvathi)

Croatian mountain lizard (Iberolacerta horvathi; previously: Lacerta horvathi) [42]

Where? On the Balkans between 400 and 1900 m. above sea level, also in Northern Italy and in Austria [web74]. Was detected in Austria only in 1986. Can be confused with the wall lizard in Austria [web74].

Where must the dry stone wall stand? At cool, humid locations with rushing brooks:
Lives in cool-wet-stony or cool-wet-rocky locations with many crack systems, on mossy boulders, in mossy slip rock fields with direct drip water supply, near creeks, in stony bank areas, also with rock fields and shrubs. There, where the Croatian mountain lizard lives, it appears in large groups [web74].

What they eat: It is assumed: Insects, spiders and snails [web74].

Enemies: There is a need for research [web74].


Moles regulate pests

Mole hill [37]

What they eat: Moles are employees against pests in the garden or in the field (translation): "Every day, he eats as many prey animals as his own body weight, which is 65 - 120 g, eats. His diet consists mainly of earthworms, grubs, snails, wireworms, millipedes, woodlice (isopods), beetles and their larvae, spiders, amphibians and mice." [web21]

The common weasel uses mole tunnels as cover and for changing the position [web53]. So: Where there are moles, there should also be the weasel, and both keeps mice population down [conclusion Palomino].

Mouse and mice in the dry stone wall

Mouse eating food [15]

-- Mice live in the dry stone wall [web02; web06, S.7].

Enemies eating mice and nestling mice: Common weasel [web55], mole [web21], smooth snake [web11], Aesculapian snake [web12].

Enemies that only eat nestling mice: Hedgehog [web81], Eastern Emerald Lizard [web67], young Aesculapian snake [web12].


Reptiles on the dry stone wall: on the sunny side

Reptiles like lizards, blindworms and snakes live on sunny walls with full sunlight and spend the winter in small, frost-free stone caves or burrows behind the dry wall. The entrances must be narrow so that predators such as rats, polecats or ermines have no access [web06, p.9].

   
Blindworm / slowworm (Anguis fragilis) [16] - Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) [35] - Smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) in a dry stone wall [19]

Snails at the dry wall

Snails, whose snail shells are flat or elongated and fit into the crevices, also live on the dry wall, so the door snails (Clausilien, Clausiliiae) and the stone pickers (Helicigona lapicida) [web6, p.7].

Door snail (Clausiliidae) [23]    Stone picker snail (Helicigona lapicida) [24]


Snakes at the dry wall

Snakes: Smooth snake:

 
Smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) [18] - Smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) in a dry stone wall [19]

Where should the dry stone wall be located? Dry sunny locations:
Steep terrace slopes, quarries, embankments [web38].

What they eat: Mice, mouse nestlings, lizards, lizard eggs, blindworms, young snakes, toads, large insects, bird nestlings, bird eggs, earthworms

The Smooth Snake is predatory, it also eliminates mice (translation): "They themselves primarily capture lizards and their eggs or nestlings as well as blindworms, but also young snakes (including those of their own species, especially when there are many of it), and they eat shrews, the adults and the nestlings, voles and long-tailed mice. Further, irregularly their food spectrum can contain also garlic-toads, big insects, nestling birds and bird eggs as well as earthworms. Larger loot is located visually, pursued, packed with the jaws and strangled before devouring. The snake winds its body tightly around the victim." [web11]

Enemies: The newly hatched snakes must hide from the adult snakes. Further enemies are crows, throttles, starlings, and humans who destroy habitats [web38]. Further enemies are polecats, stone-martens, hedgehogs and various gripping-birds. Ravens rob young animals from nests. [web11]

Snakes: Aesculapian snake:

Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus, syn.: Elaphe longissima) [20]

Where? France, Southern Europe, to the Black Sea France

Where should the dry stone wall be located? In warm, humid, sunny locations near water ways, forest glades, meadows, etc.:
The Aesculapian snake settles in warm, humid, sun-exposed places in the lowlands, on sunny slopes in the mountains, on water banks and in alluvial forests, on forest clearings, in boulders and bushes, where it can hide under ivy or blackberry bushes, etc.; it also lives in laying stone walls, in old quarries, in ruins, in bushy hillside meadows [web12].

What they eat: Mice, lizards, birds, bird nestlings, bird eggs, rarely dormouse, mole, squirrel, weasel, bats, insects, frog larch, fire salamander, ring snake, smooth snake

The Aesculapian snake is predatory, but also eliminates mice (translation): "The Aesculapian snake feeds on small mammals, especially mice, as well as on lizards and birds and their nestlings and eggs. In food analyses one found above all types of the long-tail mice, the voles as well as the shrews. More rarely, dormice, moles, squirrels, weasels and bats have been found. Among the birds, great titmice, treecreeper, flycatcher, buntings, smacker and the wren dominated. Insects, frog worms, fire salamanders or other snakes such as the grass snake or the smooth snake were found very rarely. Of course, the spectrum depends very much on the regional composition of the potential prey. As young animals, they mainly prey on small lizards and nestling mice.

Looking for food takes place mainly on the ground and in caves in the ground, as well as under stones, in trees or in plant material. Larger prey animals are strangled, smaller animals such as lizards are crushed with their strong jaws. The snake often lives in attics, haystacks and the like keeping it free from mice." [web12]

Enemies (translation): "The Aesculapian snake itself becomes the prey of various birds and mammals. Among the mammals, these are mainly martens such as the polecat, the badger as well as stone and tree martens; among the birds the enemies are the common buzzard, the honey buzzard, the short toed eagle as well as various raven birds. Especially nestling animals are also captured by other snake species such as ladder snake or Montpellier snake. Being in a threat the Aesculapian snake flees to higher areas or to trees and bushes. Defense tactic is biting and an evil-smelling secretion from its anal-glands." [web12]

Snakes: Dice snake:

Cube snake (Natrix tessellata) [21]

Where should the dry stone wall be located? Near natural creeks, rivers and lakes:
Translation: "This snake colonizes climatically favored river courses and lakes in floodplains where are high fish stocks. The shore zones should be structured in a near-natural way and, in addition to herbaceous vegetation, should also have open rinsing seams and river banks of gravel or of gravel stones. Also important are flat, current-calmed zones with much sunlight and slopes near the shore with dry grasslands and rocks, dry-stone walls or similar rich in shelters. [...] The winter quarters on land - frost-proof, sun-exposed crevices and cavities on shore slopes - are usually visited in Rhineland-Palatinate towards the end of September, in mild weather also at the end of October, and left again mid to end of April. The females appear somewhat earlier than the males on that occasion." [web13]

What they eat: In the afternoon, the dice snake eats various fish in the waters. However, it also has many predators:

Enemies: "The dice snake's predators are smaller mammals such as rats, muskrats, ermine and weasels as well as birds such as herons and black-headed gulls. Also large predatory fish as pike and catfish probably belong to their predators. An increasingly recognized problem with the German occurrences is the robbery and eating of the young snakes by mallard ducks. [web13]


Spiders on the dry wall

Spiders: Wolf spiders clean up [web48]
Wolf spiders (Lycosidae) [36]

Where should the dry-stone wall be located? In the area of intact, pesticide-free small field agriculture:
Most species in Europe live in the herb layer or between stones in [protected] earth caves in the gossamer. The species of Atypus (purseweb spiders) and Ctenizidae (trapdoor spider) line their burrows with spider silk [web48].

In Central Europe, the following types live: Alopecasa cuneata - Pardosa lugubris - Pirata piraticus - Trochosa terricola - Xerolycosa nemoralis - Pardosa milvina - Hogna helluo [web50].

What they eat: Wolf spiders lurk at night mostly insects and sting them with poison (harmless for humans) [web48]. Wolf spiders generally eat all ground animals that pass by them, including aphids, flies, beetles and smaller spiders, thrips [web50] (fringed wing [web51]).

Translation: "Members of the genus Pirata and Piratula prefer the proximity of standing water. They walk on the water surface without sinking chasing insects on the water surface." [web48]

Enemies:
-- The industrial capitalist HUMAN is destroying any habitat of the wolf spiders clearing the gardens of everything up [web49], mowing everything down and placing only barren lawns [web50], monocultures and monoculture forests are also all tidy up, piles of stone, rotten wood and varied lean meadows are no longer there [web49].


Toads on the dry stone wall: on the shadow side
Common toad (Bufo bufo) [12]  European green toad (Bufotes viridis) [13]

Where should the dry stone wall be? On shady slopes.
During the day they sit in the wall gaps with contact to the floor and ceiling (4 to 5 cm high), at night they are active. When building a dry wall on a shady slope near ponds and little lakes, one can intentionally form some gaps in the wall of 4 to 5 cm for toads on the ground, which have stone slabs on the ground [web06, p.10].

What they eat: Worms, snails, spiders, insects and other small animals [web59].

Enemies:
-- the adult toad: cats, martens, hedgehogs, snakes, herons, birds of prey and some other animals [web59]; birds of prey: buzzard, eagle owl, tawny owl, grey heron, raven; polecat (robs spawning waters), rats, raccoon, water shrew; reptiles: mainly ring snake;
-- the toad fly (Lucilia bufonivora) lays eggs into the toad and the larvae eat the toad from the inside out, if the toad does not notice anything and does not make an emergency skinning. When an emergency skinning is performed, the toad eats the fly clutch itself with its own skin [web60].

-- the industrial capitalists-MAN: road transport [web59]

-- the tadpoles: Fish, especially trout, perch and pike [web59], hunting insect larvae [web60].

There is a special protective behavior of the toad cuddly tadpoles: They form a swarm simulating a large animal body so that the fish is afraid and disappears. When a tadpole is bitten, the injured tadpole emits an alarm substance from the top layer of skin so that all tadpoles disappear quickly [web60].


Weasel (common weasel) at the dry wall tidy up

Common weasel (Mustela nivalis) [14]

The common weasel (Mustela nivalis), also called simply a weasel [web52], is the smaller variant of the stoat (ermine) [web56].

Where must the dry stone wall stand? In the area of intact, pesticide-free small field agriculture:
The mouse weasel lives in hiding places in cracks, hollow tree trunks, stone heaps or other animal structures - on fallow land (grassland which is not used for a certain time, vineyard which is not used for a certain time), at forest edges, on meadows, on pastures [web52], on road embankments [web53]. They change their places of cover under hedges, along ditches, they are changing their positions passing old grass strips and field margins [web52], they are using the dense vegetation as their cover, they squeeze through the buildings of other rodents, and also use mole tunnel constructions [web53].

What they eat: Common weasels eat mice [web02], field mouse (Microtus arvalis) and meadow dormouse (Microtus pennsylvanicus), in Asia also the Asian dormouse "steppe lemming" (Lagurus lagurus) [web55], up to 5 mice per day, forming a stock [web53]. Common weasels also take over mouse nests [web52]. So: common weasels eat small mammals, above all rodents (above all voles). Weasels are so slender that they can pass through mice tunnels. When they don't find any mice any more, they attack small birds and their eggs, young hares, lizards, possibly even rabbits (young wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) [web55]) and adult rats [web52], small reptiles, insects, frog larches, if present [web55]. Sometimes they kill more animals than they can eat [web52]. In bad "mouse years" the common weasel population [web53] is also migrating away [web54] [or they become weak and become prey of the enemies?]

Enemies:
-- birds of prey, owls, fox and foxes, ermine [web52], martens, eagle owls, white storks, grey herons, domestic cats, feral domestic cats, free-range dogs [web54], snakes [web55]
-- the industrial capitalist HUMAN: chasing the weasel or driving the car over it. The hunting clubs rush against the common weasel, which is described of being driven by a "lust for murder" [web54]
-- the industrial capitalist HUMAN, who decimates mouse population with mouse poisons not only killing the voles, but also the natural enemies as well, because weasel eat the poisoned mice and then ALSO die [web54]
-- the industrial capitalist HUMAN, who sets up deathblow traps against voles, in which common weasels and ermine also die, so that their offspring will starve to death [web54].
When voles and weasels are reducing their population, new voles migrate faster than new weasels [web54].

Many common weasels don't survive the first year because of the many enemies [web52].


Woodlice (isopods) in the dry stone wall
[2]
Woodlice (isopods) live on dry walls with maximum sunlight under flat stones [web06, p.11].

Enemies: Woodlice (isopods) are the food of shrews and other insectivorous mammals, for chickens, lizards and toads [web18], alpine salamanders [web09], blindworms [web08], western green lizard [web77], eastern green lizard [web65], hedgehogs [web81], mole [web21], hoopoe [web28].

<<        >>

Sources
[web01] Instructions for installing natural stone walls: https://www.gartenwerk-naturstein.de/service/verlegetipps-aufbauanleitung/natursteinmauer.html
[web02] Living walls (Lebendige Mauern): https://www.nabu.de/umwelt-und-ressourcen/oekologisch-leben/balkon-und-garten/gartenelemente/00655.html
[web03] Green life on dry stone walls (Grünes Leben auf der Trockenmauer): https://www.krautundrueben.de/gruenes-leben-auf-der-trockenmauer
[web04] Living space dry-stone walls (Lebensraum Trockenmauer): https://www.gartenfreunde.de/gartenpraxis/gartengestaltung/lebensraum-trockenmauer/
[web05] Simply gardening - planting dry stone walls (Einfach gärtnern - _Trockenmauer bepflanzen):
https://phlora.de/einfach-gaertnern-trockenmauer-bepflanzen/
[web06] Ecology of dry stone walls (Ökologie der Trockenmauern):
https://stonewalls.ch/sites/default/files/public/documents/downloads/Trockenmauer_Oekologie_D.pdf
[web07] Beetle (Käfer): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Käfer
[web08] Blindworm / slow-worm (Blindschleiche): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindschleiche
[web09] Alpine Salamander (Alpensalamander): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpensalamander
[web10] Smooth snake in vineyards (Schlingnatter): https://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/article141752041/Was-wenn-Kreuzotter-oder-Aspisviper-zubeissen.html

[web11] Smooth snake: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlingnatter
[web12] Aesculapian snake: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Äskulapnatter
[web13] Cube snake: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Würfelnatter
[web14] Millipede: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tausendf%C3%BC%C3%9Fer
[web15] Millipede: http://www.biologie-schule.de/tausendfuessler-steckbrief.php
[web16] Get rid of millipede: https://de.wikihow.com/Tausendf%C3%BC%C3%9Get rid of centipedes
[web17] Millipede: http://www.stadtzug.ch/dl.php/de/5478812c0b04e/Merkblatt_Tausendfuessler.pdf
[web18] Woodlice and their enemies: The animal pests of our greenhouse plants: E-Book:
(Asseln und ihre Feinde: Die tierischen Schädlinge unserer Gewächshauspflanzen: E-Book)
https://books.google.com.pe/books?id=8YBAlw31wQkC&pg=PA204&lpg=PA204&dq=thousandfeet+enemies&source=bl&ots=Yr_AW1tgh-&sig=zpssW3KZQS-U9Hg2Jfjc0oiWpVE&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4s6HP_4PeAhVtqlkKHbcwAbs4ChDoATAGegQIBRAB#v=onepage&q=tausendfüssler%20feind&f=false
[web19] Millipede: https://www.aufreisensein.com/tausendfuessler-in-spanien/
[web20] Millipede: https://www.reptilienzoo.at/minimax/MiniMax-14.pdf

[web21] Mole: https://www.siegen.de/fileadmin/cms/olsformulare/FaltblattMaulwurf.pdf
[web22] Great Tit (Parus major): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlmeise
[web23] Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus, syn.: Parus caeruleus): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaumeise 
[web24] Fir tit (Periparus ater, Syn.: Parus ater): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannenmeise 
[web25] Fir tit: http://www.brodowski-fotografie.de/beobachtungen/tannenmeise.html
[web26] Blue Tit: http://www.brodowski-fotografie.de/beobachtungen/blaumeise.html
[web27] Great Tit: http://www.brodowski-fotografie.de/beobachtungen/kohlmeise.html
[web28] Hoopoe: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiedehopf
[web29] Hoopoe: http://www.brodowski-fotografie.de/beobachtungen/wiedehopf.html
[web30] Dipper (Cinclus cinclus): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasseramsel_(Art)

[web31] Dipper (Cinclus cinclus): http://www.brodowski-fotografie.de/beobachtungen/wasseramsel.html
[web32] Wagtail (Motacilla alba): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachstelze
[web33] Wagtail (Motacilla alba): http://www.brodowski-fotografie.de/beobachtungen/bachstelze.html 
[web34] Gray wagtail (Motacilla cinerea): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gebirgsstelze
[web35] Animal dictionary with gray wagtail: http://tierlexikon.ch/index.php/tierlexikon/article/207
[web36] Gray wagtail: http://www.natur-lexikon.com/Texte/HWG/003/00209-Gebirgsstelze/HWG00209-Gebirgsstelze.html
[web37] Gray wagtail: https://www.vogelwarte.ch/de/voegel/voegel-der-schweiz/gebirgsstelze
[web38] Smooth snake: https://www.volksfreund.de/region/mosel/die-schlingnatter-hat-viele-feinde_aid-5019363
[web39] Gray wagtail: http://www.life-baeche.de/gebirgsstelze.htm
[web40] Bugs (Heteroptera): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanzen

[web41] Firebug: http://www.tierportraet.ch/htm07/feuerwanze.php
[web42] Bugs: https://www.onetz.de/oberpfalz/weiden-oberpfalz/wanzen-klimagewinner-id2518784.html
[web43] Bedbugs: https://bessergesundleben.de/endlich-schluss-mit-bettwanzen-diese-hausmittel-machen-es-moeglich/
[web44] Fire bugs: https://www.gartendialog.de/gartenpflege/schaedlinge/silberfische/feuerwanzen-bekaempfen.html
[web45] Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zauneidechse
[web46] Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis): http://www.biologie-schule.de/zauneidechse-steckbrief.php
[web47] Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis): http://www.ijon.de/echsen/gefahr.html
[web48] Wolf spider (Lycosidae): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfspinnen
[web49] http://www.helpster.de/die-wolfsspinne_228469
[web50] http://www.fundus.org/pdf.asp?ID=12179

[web51] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fransenflügler
[web52] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauswiesel
[web53] http://www.wildtierportal.bayern.de/wildtiere_bayern/101647/index.php
[web54] http://www.bund-lemgo.de/Mauswiesel_and_Hermelin.html
[web55] http://de.tierlexikon.wikia.com/wiki/Mauswiesel
[web56] http://www.natur-beobachtungen.de/beobachtungen/hermelin.html
[web57] https://www.reptilien-brauchen-freunde.de/blinds.html
[web58] https://www.natur-in-nrw.de/HTML/Tiere/Reptilien/TK-1.html
[web59] https://klexikon.zum.de/wiki/Kröte
[web60] https://feldherpetologie.de/lurch-reptil-des-jahres/erdkroete-2012/leben-der-erdkroete-im-jahresverlauf/

[web61] http://www.natur-lexikon.com/Texte/HWG/001/00072/HWG00072.html
[web62] https://www.hoehenrausch.de/tierlexikon/alpensalamander/
[web63] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echte_Eidechsen
[web64] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zauneidechse
[web65] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Östliche_Smaragdeidechse
[web66] https://tiere-lexikon.de.tl/Smaragdeidechse.htm
[web67] http://www.natur-lexikon.com/Texte/zs/001/00003-smaragdeidechse/zs00003-smarageidechse.html
[web68] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauereidechse
[web69] http://www.natur-lexikon.com/Texte/zs/001/00007-Mauereidechse/zs00007-Mauereidechse.html
[web70] https://www.reptilien-brauchen-freunde.de/podmu.html

[web71] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldeidechse  
[web72] http://www.natur-lexikon.com/Texte/zs/001/00001-waldeidechse/zs00001-waldeidechse.html
[web73] https://feldherpetologie.de/lurch-reptil-des-jahres/reptil-des-jahres-2006/beschreibung-waldeidechse/
[web74] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kroatische_Gebirgseidechse
[web75] https://www.herpetofauna.at/index.php/slider-reptilien/31-kroatische-gebirgseidechse-iberolacerta-horvathi-mehely-1904
[web76] http://www.schlangenland.de/index.php/echsen/lacerta/lacerta-bilineata
[web77] https://www.deutschlands-natur.de/tierarten/amphibien-reptilien/westliche-smaragdeidechse/
[web78] http://www.med-etc.com/natur/insekten/insektenhotel-Dt.html
[web79] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igel
[web80] https://www.deutschewildtierstiftung.de/wildtiere/igel

[web81] http://www.natur-lexikon.com/Texte/HWG/001/00081-Igel/HWG00081-Igel.html

Photo sources
[1] Ants: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/689473024177054621/
[2] Woodlice: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/489555421991282126/
[3] Lizard with dry stone wall in Machu Picchu on the top of Huayna Picchu mountain: photo of Michael Palomino 2011
[http://www.am-sur.com/am-sur/peru/MachuPicchu/fotogalerie-Dt/25-aussichtsberg-Huaynapicchu-aufstieg02-weiler-treppen-tunnel-gipfel.html
[4] Bat (Microchiroptera): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/533465518341793854/
[5] Centipedes (Chilopoda): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/413275703278496778/
[6] Hedgehogs (Erinaceidae): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/76068681190796049/
[7] Bumblebee (Bombus): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/275001120979352115/
[8] Wasp (Vespinae): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/205758276711993188/
[9] Wild bee Solitary bee: Red-furred sand bee (Andrena fulva): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/161144492894318562/
[10] Beetle: carpet beetle (Dermestidae): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/AQXGfDnQ-DoiokCUJRE3acEtNJBYd7-Wcl2ZzmaDBDkKxhyDJO6IFLk/

[11] Beetles: leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/17732992268598920/
[12] Common toad (Bufo bufo): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/518265869611450058/
[13] Green toad (Bufotes viridis): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wechselkröte
[14] Common weasel (Mustela nivalis): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/836051118301203635/
[15] Mouse with food: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/468867011203104342/
[16] Blindworm / slow-worm (Anguis fragilis): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/465067098993722036/
[17] Alpine salamander (Salamandra atra): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/387942955394778125/
[18] Smooth snake (Coronella austriaca): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/489907265708226638/
[19] Smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) rolled up in dry stone wall: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/414120128205072625/
[20] Aesculapian snake: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/373446994092112997/

[21] Cube snake (Natrix tessellata): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/284078688973054022/
[22] Millipedes (Myriapoda): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/355362226839966676/
[23] Door snail (Clausiliidae): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clausiliidae_-_Clausilia_bidentata_crenulata.-2.JPG
[24] Stone picker snail (Helicigona lapicida): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/523754631635454743/
[25] Great Tit (Parus major): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/377387643769905429/
[26] Blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus, syn.: Parus caeruleus): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/228417012333362310/
[27] Fir tit (Periparus ater, syn.: Parus ater): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/336151559657958611/
[28] Hoopoe (Upupa epops): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/604678687444911792/
[29] Dipper (Cinclus cinclus): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/566468459359726219/
[30] Wagtail (Motacilla alba): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/604678687444102785/

[31] Gray wagtail (Motacilla cinerea): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/295478425536386653/
[32] Bugs design (Heteroptera): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/394698354825970929/
[33] Bug (Heteroptera): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/563653709593906969/
[34] Fire bug (Pyrrhocoridae): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/81135230756737864/
[35] Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/527695281329038403/
[36] Wolf spider (Lycosidae): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/AUdtXcpwajv31j6zbP9fQrxG5W5P1jTKfye8DwyAvCoQReNIKQWMo_w/
[37] Molehill: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/293226625714489821/
[38] Western green lizard (Lacerta bilineata): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/461759768034286156/
[39] Eastern green lizard (Lacerta viridis): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/523825000405592890/
[40] Wall lizard (Podarcis muralis): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/492862752948777519/

[41] Forest lizard (Lacerta vivipara): https://www.pinterest.de/pin/490540584389697965/
[42] Croatian mountain lizard (Iberolacerta horvathi; previously: Lacerta horvathi):
[Photo by Martin Schroth: http://www.lacerta.de/AS/Bildarchiv.php?Genus=31&Species=103&Child=1&RegioId=473&Regio=Italy
[43] Dry stone wall in a wild garden: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/376332112591064962/
[44] Dry stone wall in terraces in a large garden: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/582653270517744529/
[45] Sand lizard in a dry stone wall: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/385691155562636893/
[46] Hedgehog in dry stone wall: Photo by V. Foertsch: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/97179304444042262/

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