One of our main objectives is to Work with schools, individuals and through the media to incorporate nesting, roosting and hibernating sites for wildlife (particularly birds, bats & insects) around our homes, gardens & villages.
Many of our Roseland communities have seen much renovation and improvement of traditional housing. Whilst this may be a good thing, one consequence is that we are inadvertently changing our environment, to the detriment of wildlife. And yet, with a little thought, we can reverse this and accommodate a wide range of species living alongside us.
There are many techniques that architects, builders and homeowners can use to bring this about and there is plenty of excellent guidance on wildlife-friendly buildings and gardens. (For example, the RSPB and the Royal Horticultural Society are excellent online resources, links below.
Wild Roseland will seek to make advice more widely available to Roseland residents and homeowners, and will undertake some special projects. We have already been working with local schools to construct and install barn-owl boxes at suitable locations. Workshops have been held at 5 Roseland schools to construct and install barn owl boxes; further boxes are planned. We are also sourcing other nest boxes (swifts, swallows, etc) that can be provided at cost to householders.
Update 1st November 2018
To date, Wild Roseland has made 7 barn owl boxes and these have been erected throughout the Roseland. Since erection all of the boxes have had visits from owls but only one is being regularly used by a barn owl. Some have also had visits from tawny owls and squirrels!
To help monitor these scheduled birds, Wild Roseland paid for one of our members to attend a BOESS course in July 2018 run by the Barn Owl Trust.
Wild Roseland did a survey in 2018 of tawny owls throughout the Roseland and found that they were present in all but one of the 17 tetrads. While doing the survey, several barn owls were heard or seen.
