Over the past year and a half our new exhibition & paddocks have been a non-stop project. One thing we knew we wanted to achieve was to make the new and improved paddocks a haven for local wildlife.
Our mission to make a home for wildlife within the paddocks started with some bat boxes. We strapped these to some trees and snags at the edge of the woods our paddock reindeer overnight in. With bat boxes, you want to make sure they are at least 4 metres off the ground, and that the bats will have a clear flight path to enter – so no low branches blocking them. A sheltered position that gets direct sun for a good portion of the day provides the cosy conditions the bats want. Somewhere undisturbed by artificial lighting is preferred too.
I put together some stacks of deadwood – these provide brilliant habitat for a whole host of invertebrates, and other small animals. These are pretty self-explanatory to make – and weren’t much effort as we have so much brash and deadwood on the ground from all the ongoing works in the paddocks, and the frequent windy weather that brings down branches from the pine woods.
In 2024 Lotti put some house martin nest boxes on the old building – now exclusively staff residence, after seeing some house martins eyeing it up as a nesting site. This inspired us to do something with the new building. We decided it wasn’t suitable for house martins, but they aren’t the only birds suffering from a lack of nesting sites.
We were kindly donated some swift boxes by ex-herder Jack (thanks, Jack!). Me and Cam had an exciting (terrifying) time, taking turns at the top of a very tall ladder to get these up on the side of the main building. We managed three. Maybe one day we’ll pluck up the courage to put the rest of them up! Swift boxes should be placed close under the eaves of a building, as high as possible. Swifts want a clear flight path to swoop down and then up into their nests, so it’s important there are no nearby obstacles in their way. North or east facing placements are best, to avoid the worst of the afternoon summer heat.
Daisy has recently been hard at work putting together a squirrel feeding station, with ropes for them to scamper tree-to-tree. Squirrel feeders are specially designed for just the squirrels to access, and you can buy special squirrel food blends that best resemble their natural diet.
As well as these specific efforts, we’ve also put up multiple nesting boxes for small birds, and sowed a wildflower bank behind our staff room which should hopefully continue to flourish and improve over the coming years.
We’ve had some great wildlife sightings in the paddocks in the past year. We’ve had multiple visits from Callie the Scottish wildcat (part of a release scheme in the area), a resident badger in the woods last winter, and to my delight a beautiful male adder last summer! We also have an abundance of different bird species, small mammals like red squirrels, shrews, voles, and moles, and undoubtedly plenty of invertebrates. Hopefully our efforts in the paddocks will bring in even more, and we can make our wonderful local wildlife feel at home.
Kate