Colchester + Ipswich Museums

Give a Bird a Home!

A Bird-Box in Your Hand Event
Tuesday 14th to Thursday 16th February
Natural History Museum, Colchester

This week is National Nest Box week, so get creative and give a bird a home! Come along to the Natural History Museum, Colchester between Tuesday 14th and Thursday 16th February and make a nest box and decorate it with your own design.

You can then put it in a tree in your garden (or why not take it to school to put up there?) and it won’t be long before it‘s a home for a family of birds. As spring goes on, you may even hear the squeak of baby chicks!

Jerry Bowdrey, Curator of Natural History at Colchester and Ipswich Museums, says “Nest boxes are important because they mimic naturally occurring nest situations such as holes and cracks in trees. As these resources are limited in our increasingly urban environment, nest boxes can provide additional nesting opportunities for birds. By installing different box designs, in appropriate situations, a wider variety of bird species can be encouraged to nest.”

Nest Box Week is a national event and their aims are to encourage everyone to put up nest boxes in their local area in order to promote and enhance biodiversity and conservation of our breeding birds and wildlife. The natural nest sites on which many of our bird species depend, such as holes in trees and buildings, are fast disappearing as gardens and woods are ‘tidied’ and old houses are repaired. Since National Nest Box Week was launched in 1997, thousands of enthusiastic naturalists across the UK have put up boxes to compensate for this loss. It is estimated that there are now 5-6 million boxes in gardens across the UK.

‘Make Your Bird Box’ sessions will be at 10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm, 2.30pm and 3.30pm. This event is very popular so please book your place in advance to avoid disappointment, you can call 01206 282940 or drop into Hollytrees Museum, Colchester. This event costs juts £2 per person.

Natural History Museum
High Street, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1DN
Open: Tuesday – Saturday, 10am to 5pm and Sunday 11am to 5pm
FREE Admission

ENDS

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Contact Laura Welham, PR and Press Officer, Colchester Borough Council. Telephone: 01206 508782 or 07815088150

National Nest Box Week: http://www.bto.org/nnbw/index.htm

For comment or opinion please contact Cllr. Nick Barlow
Colchester Borough Council - Economic Development and Sustainability Portfolio Holder
Telephone: 01206 570753

Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service
Our vision is to create a museum service that is a source of pride, inspiration and fun.