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Flora and Fauna |
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... fauna
The PCA has been planting trees round
Prestonville, and now it's going to try to get some birds to go with
them. Although we can't put nestboxes on street trees, because the
Council
would have to spend too much time checking that they weren't in danger
of falling down, boxes can be put on buildings or trees in gardens. We
can also encourage birds to visit or come to live in the area by
putting out food for them.
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 In
particular, we'd like to make Prestonville a welcoming
place for sparrows, which were once among the commonest of birds but
have declined nationally by more than 50 per cent in the last 25 years.
Brighton doesn't rank very highly in the RSPB's 'Sparrowatch'
survey, at number 16 of 27 towns and cities listed. |
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 We've
taken the first step to bring back the sparrows. PCA committee member
Martin Moore has built several 'sparrow terraces' - unlike species like
blue
tits and robins, sparrows aren't territorial and are happy to live next
door to each other. Here's the first, which you can see on the front of
Stanford Junior
School (underneath one of the hall windows) on Stanford Road. The
latest is installed on a building at BHASVIC,
where it's visible from Crocodile Walk 2000.
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We have also put up single nestboxes
at Stanford Juniors, Stanford Infants and BHASVIC, to encourage other
species such as
blue tits and
robins.
Meanwhile the Prestonville pub has installed both a terrace and a
'sparrow cafe', which have already been visited by sparrows.
Map showing
position of terraces
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If you'd
like to put a sparrow terrace on your property, please get in touch
with Marek Kohn. We're
looking at the possibility of building them to order. Alternatively,
you can get them from commercial suppliers, as the Prestonville did.
One source is the shop at the RSPB
Pulborough Brooks reserve (half an hour's drive from here).
If you'd like to help build nestboxes, either terraces or the ordinary
single kind, we'd be delighted to hear from you.
Links:
RSPB
advice on what you can do for birds
RSPB
‘Save The House Sparrow Initiative’
How
to build a nestbox
How
to build a sparrow terrace
Sussex Ornithological
Society - rolling reports of bird sightings around Sussex
City Wildlife,
"a 'one stop shop' for wildlife in Brighton & Hove"
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It's not
just common or garden birds round here. Some sightings:
- Blackcaps (pair) in
Stafford Road
- Redstart (early summer vistor)
in
Hamilton
Road
- Stock Doves, six of
them, on BHASVIC fields
- Green Woodpecker in Dyke Road,
up from BHASVIC
- Great Spotted
Woodpecker in
Hamilton Road
- Sparrowhawk, chasing birds in
Hamilton Road
- Nightingale
possibly
heard in the grounds of Windlesham School
- Grey
wagtail (not the usual Pied kind) in York Villas
- Jays
in Prestonville
Road
Let us know if
you’ve
got something to add to
the list!
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