Today we were at Maker Heights in South East Cornwall for a session of Bramble clearing and Bird Box making.
TEA time, before anything else of course!
This was the area before we started. The aim of the day was to selectively remove the bramble and docks in our wild flower meadow.
Action shot
Spider
Now this Ladies and Gentlemen is a rare sight.... This is Mike - PEA's Design and Media Officer, not seen very often as he is normally on the other side of the camera! Nice T-shirt Mike!
This amazingly spikely clad caterpillar will turn into a beautiful Peacock Butterfly!!
Baby spiders hatched out :)
A Large Skipper butterfly
Lovely colourful foxgloves
Sam removing the grass and brambles.
Todd getting stuck
Rob clearing the way
Esther and Mike
Cleavers
A 6-spotted Burnet moth, on a Marsh Thistle flower - so colourful!
After a great view of the planes for armed forces day and lunch,
it was time for bird box making
Esther eating her lunch under a workbench!
"Here's one I made earlier!"
Sam and Rob measuring up!
To make your own you will need: a length of 150mm wide by 1170mm height. it should be a minimum of 15mm thick to provide insulation for the birds during colder nights
You should have a back, front, roof, base and two sides
Side view: the box is fixed in the middle of the back so that it can be attached to a tree
The bottom: either leave a small gap or drill holes to provide drainage
The roof has a hinge made up of an old bike inner tube.
Use smaller tack nails to hold this down.
A ladybird larvae!
Todd trying the box before nailing together
Esther insuring the nails are perfectly straight
Mike putting his bird box together, watch your thumbs!
We have used galvanized nails so they will not rust.
Esther sawing
Tip: Use the saw to draw a straight edge!
Time to drill the hole for nest entry/exit. We use a range of hole sizes as different types of birds prefer different sizes. 25mm for Blue, Coal and Marsh Tit, 28mm for Great Tit and Tree Sparrow; 32mm for House Sparrow.
Wow look at these boxes! No Esther, nobody has moved in yet!
Join us on Sunday 12th July when we will be putting them up at
Anthony house, in South East Cornwall
Chris-Project Officer
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