Nesting workshop about helping wildlife

MEMBERS of the Batesford, Fyansford and Stonehaven Landcare Group are aiming to bring everyone together to help the region’s fauna with a nesting box workshop later this month.

The session, hosted under the auspice of the Geelong Landcare Network, will be delivered with the aim of teaching attendees to build their own nesting boxes.

Group secretary Felicity Spear said nesting boxes are an ideal way to bolster an animal’s habitat.

“We in Australia are steadily losing habitat for native animals,” she said. “We have the worst extinction rate in the world for mammals.

“It’s about providing homes for animals that have lost them, and preserving the biodiversity.

“Most animals require a hollow in a tree in which to nest but trees in hollows can take many years to develop, and a lot of these older trees are being cut down.

“These boxes will be suitable for microbats or spotted pardalotes or lorikeets, but that’s not necessarily what could inhabit them. It could be a ring-tail possum even, which are being threatened.”

Attendees will need to bring their own drills or Phillips head screwdrivers with the remainder of materials supplied.

The Batesford, Fyansford and Stonehaven Landcare Group currently has 35 financial members and about eight active members.

Ms Spear said the workshop is about involving the community in their conservation work in a fun and engaging way.

“It needs to be good fun as well,” she said.

“That’s part of how people learn. They’ll be able to take them home and erect them, and we’ll give them lots of information about why they’re important.

“We’d like people in the local neighbourhood to be encouraged to put nest boxes up.”

The session will run from 10am to 12pm at the Batesford Hall on Sunday 27 August. Tickets are $25 and can be booked at bit.ly/45tuBLl.