11/02/2019
As part
of National Nest Box Week 2019, which kicks off on
Thursday 14 February, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is calling
for homeowners to put up more nestboxes for declining garden birds.
The
simple act of putting up a nestbox can make a real difference for our birds,
providing them with the space they need to raise a family. A growing proportion
of the global human population now lives in towns and cities, with the United
Nations predicting that two-thirds of humans will live within such urbanised
landscapes by 2050. Urbanisation is considered to be one of the greatest
threats facing bird populations, resulting in the loss of natural habitats and
the feeding and nesting opportunities associated with them.
Newly
urbanised landscapes often lack the mature trees that provide nesting cavities
for small birds, such as Blue
Titand Great
Tit, while other cavity-nesting species – such as Common Starling, Common
Swift and House
Sparrow – have seen changes in building regulations
reducing nesting opportunities that once existed under the roof tiles of our
houses. The loss of such sites may have played an important role in the
significant declines seen in the breeding populations of these species since
the early 1990s (Starling by 74 per cent, House Sparrow by 35 per cent and
Common Swift by 51 per cent).
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