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Helping Willow Tits at Stonebow Washlands
The Stonebow Washlands Group, Charnwood Borough Council, idverde and the RSPB have been working together to help one of the UK’s fastest declining birds, the willow tit.
More projects for Charnwood Borough CouncilSmall and softly coloured, willow tits are the UK’s most threatened resident bird. They have suffered declines of 94% since the 1970s, and they are now extinct in most of their former haunts in the South and South-East of England.
They have been heard calling at Stonebow Washlands Local Nature Reserve though, and this Loughborough site does boast the mix of wet woodland and damp scrub that willow tits love. After the RSPB shared some advice on how to help them, Charnwood Borough Council and idverde teams adapted the woodland management plan for the site, to ensure it stays in top condition for the struggling birds, and the Stonebow Washlands Group decided to purchase some custom-made willow tit nest boxes.
The nest boxes were built by the Glebe House Work Skills group, a service for adults with learning disabilities who want to learn new practical skills. The designs, agreed with advice from the RSPB, aim to replicate the tits’ natural behaviour. Willow tits like to nest in soft standing dead wood, such as willow and alder, where they excavate a hole with their tiny beaks. Some of the boxes were filled with deadwood, others with compacted sawdust.
Luke Smith, chair of the Stonebow Washlands Group said: “The Stonebow Washlands Group aims to improve the nature reserve for people and wildlife. We are delighted to work with the RSPB, idverde and the council to help give these birds a home. We are very thankful to the Glebe House group who built the boxes, and will be monitoring the boxes to see if they are taken up.”
This project is part of the RSPB – idverde partnership. The RSPB – idverde partnership launched in 2017, and sees two RSPB employees embedded within idverde teams in Bromley and the Midlands, to support and advise on wildlife-friendly green space management.
Photo credits: Willow tit by Mike Langman (rspb-images.com), others courtesy of Glebe House