Hi Annker
Wood piles are good for insects too, but also make good more natural nesting places for hogs. You are honoured if one has decided to nest there! But it may still be a Summer type nest. It’s still fairly early for hibernation. But when they make their hibernation nests they are very elaborate and they seem to instinctively know what to do. I had a hoglet one year who decided to build a nest in one of the food boxes. Huge amounts of leaves and grasses were taken in, carried in the mouth – all conveniently taking place in front of the camera.
They are so clever they don’t just pile things up, the leaves are carefully layed like tiles overlapping (but layers and layers like that) and the grasses helped to keep it all together. This particular nest was constricted by the size of the box, but in the wild they can be bigger. But the result would have been pretty waterproof even if outside. I was able to see the construction come the Spring when the hog had well and truly left.
As it turned out, that particular hoglet chose not to hibernate and continued to visit every night except when it snowed. He used the nest some days and not others. There was a small hog sized cavity in the centre, the rest was completely filled with compacted leaves and grasses. So, extremely well insulated. And this was a hoglet who could never have built a nest before. Amazing.
It probably wouldn’t do any harm to put a waterproof cover over the top of the woodpile, but I wouldn’t interfere with the rest, just in case a hog is nesting in there. It’s even possible that some may be producing late hoglets.
