Kilcullen Diary: Bird boxes and Pollinators workshop

The growing interest in wildlife and biodiversity was clearly shown by the good turnout on Saturday afternoon last for the KCA Biodiversity and Pollinator Group’s workshop, writes Noel Clare of Kilcullen Community Action. Starting in the Town Hall Paul Leighton introduced the speakers from the Wild Kildare group who then shared their vast knowledge and expertise with the audience.

First up was Paddy Sheridan who gave an excellent talk and demonstration on Bird Boxes. The basic information: don’t buy the more ornamental boxes on sale in the big hardware stores and garden centres. Naas Men’s Shed supplied the boxes that were distributed at the talk and Paddy also mentioned the website bird food.ie as a good source of nesting boxes.

Entrance holes of 25mm will attract Blue Tits, 32mm holes will attract House Sparrows and Great Tits and more open-fronted boxes will attract Blackbirds, Robins, Wrens and Pied Wagtails. Some boxes have a ‘perch’ outside the hole but Paddy advised against this as it also gives a place for predators such as magpies to land.

When siting the boxes the instructions are facing East or North, about three metres in height on a tree or a wall, away from a lot of human activity. Have a clear flight path into the box and don’t have any branches near the hole (again predators!). Paint he box on the outside with any natural colour and have it leaning slightly forward to keep out the rain. Clean it with soapy water and Milton in the autumn and under no circumstances should you go near it during the breeding season. Some boxes will serve as roosting sites for birds during the cold weather where they will seek protection. Boxes will last for four or five years.

Paddy also showed some of the swift boxes which Wild Kildare have put up throughout the County to help give a lift to the declining Swift population. Kilcullen already has three sets of boxes in situ at Scoil Bhride and the plan is to put more there in the near future. It takes up to four years for the younger Swifts to occupy the new nests. Over the past two seasons the birds have been showing great interest in the Scoil Bhride site but have not yet taken the plunge to occupy the nests.

Following the talk and demonstration, each Kilcullen estate that was signed up to the Kilcullen Pollinator Plan was given a bird box to put up in their own area and two boxes were put up along the riverside area at the back of the town hall.

After Paddy, it was the turn of Phillip Strickland who gave a fascinating talk on the role of various insects in pollinating flowering plants and crops. An excellent slide show clearly illustrated the great variety of Bumble Bees and Solitary Bees that we have in Ireland (the latter are sometimes so small that we may not think they are Bees). Another large range of insects that are very important for pollinating are Hover Flies and many of these actually mimic Bees and Wasps in the hope that other creatures (including ourselves) will avoid them. Phillip also showed photographs of the wide variety of Dragon Flies and Damsel Flies and also Butterflies and Moths that all help in pollination.

He concluded by saying how important it was that we plant our gardens and other spaces in a way that attracts and gives food and shelter to all of these pollinating insects. Some need one specific plant and others will be feed on a variety of plants.

Kilcullen Pollinator and Biodiversity Group hopes to promote pollinator friendly planting throughout the town over the coming months.

On March 10th from 6.30 to 9.30 pm the first of two workshops on Biodiversity takes place in Kilcullen Town Hall. Ecologists from Green Pine Consultants will work with the local community in preparing a comprehensive Biodiversity plan. Representatives from all community organisations, schools, sports groups etc are invited to attend and participate.

(Pictures by Noel Clare.)