A scheme to provide bird boxes in some of Huddersfield’s woodland areas has been declared a flyaway success.
Huddersfield Birdwatchers’ Club teamed up with the Edgerton-based Bridgewood Trust, which provides support for adults with learning disabilities to build 150 bird boxes to be sited in community woodlands in time to attract nesting birds in the spring breeding season.
The project was funded from legacies and donations made in memory of two former members of the birdwatchers’ club and seven woodland groups were chosen to receive the boxes.
Scheme organiser Reg Senior – who took theses amazing photos – said the project had been a great success, saying: “It has gone really well. In some cases people have put up boxes and stood back to admire their work and a bird has arrived almost immediately to investigate what’s going on in its territory.
“You cannot tell birds where to go or what to do, but you can provide the accommodation.”
Mr Senior, who lives at Honley, said that given a good summer, birds using the boxes could produce two or three broods – feeding their young on insects such as grubs which are now appearing on oak trees.
He said figures suggested that 50% of people in the UK feed garden birds – so interest in our feathered friends went well beyond the birdwatching fraternity. “They are part of our everyday life,” he added.
And it’s not just nesting boxes that make good homes. Mr Senior spotted a Blue Tit using a cigarette bin at one location in Honley while birds have also been known to nest in postboxes.
Mr Senior said club members are hoping some of the bird boxes would attract the club’s target species of Pied Flycatcher and Spotted Flycatcher. Club president Mike Wainman is asking anyone who knows of these birds using nesting boxes to email m.wainman@ntlworld.com.
Huddersfield Birdwatchers’ Club was formed in 1966 and registered as a charity in 2003. The club, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2016, has 80 members who report on the birds in the area. The club publishes an annual “Birds in Huddersfield” book with reports and photos on the latest trends and highlights of the year.
The club also runs a lecture programme with expert guest speakers talking on birdlife here and abroad. Everyone is welcome and admission is free. Go to www.huddersfieldbirdwatchersclub.co.uk
