Nest boxes in the Rotunda Park

Posted on behalf of Newstead Landcare Group

So many of our local native species including owls, microbats, Brush-tailed Phascogales, rosellas, treecreepers and gliders depend on tree hollows for nesting and sleeping. As trees in our neck of the woods grow so slowly, it can be many decades before a tree is old enough to have suitable hollows and our wildlife really struggle. Nest boxes are one measure we can take to help our beautiful and unique fauna.

The Newstead Landcare Group was fortunate to receive a Victorian Landcare Grant to purchase and install nest boxes for wildlife on public land around Newstead. We bought the boxes from local ecologist and nest box aficionado Miles Geldard of Wildlife Nest Boxes and were delighted to have a special event to put most of the boxes up in the Rotunda Park on April 7th. About 25 people turned up to hear Miles talk about the design, construction and placement of nest boxes. He’s a fascinating presenter and has many insights into how we can help wildlife get the most out of the boxes – for example putting the entrance on the side of the box makes it more likely that small mammals like phascogales will use the box and how charring the inside of the lid stops feral bees taking the boxes over. After he introduced us to the subtleties, we then helped Miles install most of the boxes in the park. A few large boxes for Barking Owls will be installed in a secret location. Our group will be checking all the boxes regularly to see who’s using them and for maintenance.

While nest boxes are a great help, they are not nearly as good for wildlife as natural hollows in either living or dead trees, standing or on the ground. Natural hollows provide much better insulation for both heat and cold. So the very best way we can help is to leave dead trees and wood on the ground so that hollows can form and our wildlife survive.