Recently the local primary school visited the Trust to have a look around and then assembled nest boxes for their School project at Fencote Church.
With 12 pupils present they worked in pairs to produce excellent boxes for next seasons nesting birds. We explained the types of cavity nesting birds which may occupy the boxes;
Tree Sparrows, Great and Blue Tits, Redstarts, etc.
The 7 boxes, and a bird feeder, were erected this past week at Fencote, and will be visited next year to record the birds nesting, and number of young produced. The data will be relayed to the National Nesting Records, held by the British Trust of Ornithology.
Whilst at the Trust the moth trap was opened and various moths were shown.
A Green Brindled Cresent
A by-product of the trap, along with Caddis Flies, were the burying beetles. As stated in a past blog these flighted chaps carry mites that are transported from carcass to carcass where the mites and beetle lay eggs , and hatched larvae feed on the rotting flesh.
Nicrophorus humator, below, is the largest of our burying beetles and the only resident British species with entirely black elytra. It's one of the commonest species, recorded throughout the UK. It is attracted to light, so regularly turns up in our moth traps.
Other moths of interest included a few Beaded Chestnut
And a very worn Green Carpet, below.
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