DÚLRA has built a forever home for the luckiest pair of birds in Belfast. Whichever bird moves into this fine abode can be sure it will belong to them and their offspring forever more.
Because this is the ultimate in bird living – a brick nestbox actually built into the wall.
Dúlra finally got a chance this week to give his local birds the ultimate home when we got one of the kitchen windows bricked up. (We didn’t really need the window removed – but Dúlra had to get that nest brick installed somehow!)
He’d bought the ‘nest brick’ years ago in the hope he’d find a place for it, but with no work being done on the house, it lay almost forgotten in the corner of the shed.
This week the brickie kindly accepted the nest brick and built it into the top of the newly sealed-up window. The entrance hole is big enough to accept house sparrows and all three of our garden tits – coal, blue and great – but too small for a starling, which are definitely the messiest of them all!
Even when it’s cemented in, you can remove part of the front so any old nest can be cleaned out in winter.
Whichever bird finds it first – it’ll have to be next spring as they have already all built their nests by now – they won’t believe their luck. Many birds squeeze into a cavity in a roof or a tree and just about have room for a nest. But this is turnkey living – inside is roomy and there’s no chance of any damp. Wooden nestboxes have a shelf life – one fell from Dúlra’s roof during a storm over the winter – but this one will be there as long as the house is standing, which should be a few years yet!
It’s what all newbuild developments should have – indeed it should be regulation. Not only do birds need our help – especially when we are the cause of their decline – but providing birdsong is a beautiful and totally free way to enhance any housing development.
Dúlra’s just got one problem – he needs to get new lights for the kitchen or put in a new window!
Next Wednesday a new project starts in Belfast’s Gaeltacht Quarter which we'll all benefit from.
One thousand seed bombs will be made and then ‘exploded’ on waste ground throughout West Belfast, producing tens of thousands of wild flowers for us all to enjoy.
The project is being led by pupils of Coláiste Feirste who will make the bombs with the seeds of native flowers – every bomb contains up to 40 flowers – and over the next few weeks they will be scattered in places like the old Andytown Barracks and on unused land along the Falls Road.
Speaking in Irish, one of one of the organisers, Jake Mac Siacais of Forbairt Feirste, said: “We hope to highlight that the authorities aren’t doing enough to protect and save the environment and that we have to take action ourselves.
“And the pupils hope also that they inspire other people to rewild their gardens and their areas just like they are doing.”
Maith sibh!
•If you’ve seen or photographed anything interesting, or have any nature questions, you can text Dúlra on 07801 414804.
