The Donkey Sanctuary’s building and groundworks team are making life a little bit easier for one of the UK’s migratory birds by providing them with secure nesting boxes.
The use of scaffolding for routine maintenance at Woods farmhouse provided the perfect opportunity to fit new house martin nest boxes beneath the eaves of the building.
House martins have made the farmhouse near Sidmouth their home for many years and return to the same nest site from their wintering grounds in Africa during April.
The birds tend to use old nests because new ones – which they make from mud and saliva – take around three weeks to construct. It is hoped they will adopt the new artificial nest boxes, which have been suitably tucked away out of prevailing winds, providing them with a safe place to raise their young.
House martins feed on flying insects and prefer to hunt in the vicinity of their nesting sites. They can often be seen performing their aerial antics around the sanctuary sites during the summer months.
Despite still being widespread and numerous, house martins have seen a moderate decline, which now puts them on the Red List.
The Red List is a list of birds in the UK, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man in most urgent need of our help, and includes some of our rarest birds, as well more familiar birds whose numbers have declined over the years.
House martins are much smaller than similar-looking swifts and swallows. They have glossy blue-black upper parts and pure white under parts. House martins also have a small, forked tail and a distinctive white rump on their upper body above the tail.
After breeding they will follow the warm weather and airborne insects southwards in early autumn, eventually overwintering in Africa.
The artificial nests are fixed securely on boards under the eaves of the property. They replicate the shape and form of natural nests but should last much longer, thanks to their sturdy woodstone construction.
Our resident donkeys greatly benefit from living in an enriched environment, and the installation of the new nest boxes is a great way of providing safe homes to a species of regular visitors.
The ecology and conservation team will be monitoring their activity at Woods Farm, and if the new nests are successful, it is likely that more will be installed on other sanctuary sites in the future.
