I am taking great delight from watching the young blue tits on the garden bird feeders this autumn. I like to think that that they emerged from one of the nest boxes made at a Green Martinstown event last year, when families could put together a bird box and take it home to put up in the garden.
Putting up nest boxes creates spaces for hole nesting birds to make nests and lay their eggs – birds like blue tits, great tits, coal tits and nuthatch use nest boxes. Providing birds with opportunities to successfully build a nest is just one way we can make space for nature.
Overall it has been a tough breeding year for birds with success affected by the wet and cold spring and long periods of heavy rain. Cold springs result in less insect food being available as their numbers are reduced by the cold. At our next member meeting there will be talk about bird ringing in the local area. Bird ringing helps us understand what is happening to our bird populations.
As I write this I can hear rooks calling through the valley. The rooks are the gregarious, noisy black birds with the patch of featherless skin around the base of the bill. They nest in the tops of trees throughout the Martinstown. They seem to be everywhere but since 2020 the number of rooks in the UK have decreased by 20%. Experts are unable to explain why but the loss of grassland and livestock-based farming might be a factor. The numbers of rook nests counted each year in the South Winterborne valley seems to be about the same so hopefully our population of this nationally declining bird might be stable. Seeing and hearing rooks in the village and knowing that they are under pressure and have a declining population in the UK makes me rather proud of living in Martinstown.
Our next public meeting is on 12 October in the Martinstown Village Hall, Professor Mark Kebblewhite, Emeritus Professor at Cranfield University will be leading the evening exploring The Soil, the foundation of life.
If you would like to know more about Green Martinstown and our activities please contact Colin Tracey 01305 889476 colintracey66@ gmail.com
