People living in cities are being urged to install bird boxes in their homes as part of a wider effort to boost local bird populations.
Natur Hud, a nature-focused organisation, hosted an event during the school half-term to allow families to get hands-on and build their own bird boxes.
Bird populations across all species in Britain have been declining, with an overall fall of 16% since 1970, according to research by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.
Chris Jones, owner of Natur Hud, said new housing developments are part of the problem of the loss of natural habitats. He said the bird box initiative encourages people to take ownership of their local environment.
Chris said, “Newly built homes don’t have gaps or holes, they’re air tight, so we need to have our bird boxes”.
Lauren Aldridge, Project Officer for Vale Nature Partnership, said,, “It’s the all life around us, it’s our environment, it’s our natural world, so if we don’t do our bit to look after it and protect it, then we aren’t going to have thing around us much longer”.
Lauren said it is also important to engage and expose young children to the environment at a young age.
Siôn Emlyn Davies, a bird enthusiast from North Wales, said as the population grows, wild spaces outside of cities are increasingly being used for housing, leading to a loss of biodiversity.
If people need houses, why can’t wildlife have places to live?
The Vale Nature Partnership are organising more opportunities for the public to reconnect with nature and develop more technical skills to support biodiversity across the Vale.