PUBLISHED: 12:31
27 March 2019 | UPDATED: 13:05 27 March 2019
Moorhen
chicks at risk of being eaten by predators have a new, five star safe haven, in
the shape of a floating bird ‘hotel’ installed on a pond in the centre of a
north Norfolk conservation area.
When
Sheringham town councillor Neil Espin heard that three of the four-strong brood
of moorhen chicks hatched last spring on the banks of the pond on Beeston
Common had either been eaten by crows or drowned, he decided to take action.
After
asking honorary warden Francis Farrow for advice, Mr Espin got together a group
of fellow councillors and launched a project aimed at giving this year’s
hatchlings a better chance of survival.
Using
materials donated by councillors and local businesses, Mr Farrow, 68. built a
moorhen ‘hotel’ featuring a wooden floor and frame, a drawbridge and “The idea
is to protect the chicks from herons, stoats, rats, crows and foxes,” he
explained.
“The problem was that the moorhens had nowhere
else to go except around the reeds at the sides of the pond, so this should
hopefully give them a refuge in the middle.”
Mr
Farrow, who has been involved in conservation work on the commons since 1969,
is a founder member of Beeston Common Management Group, which looks after the
61 acres of grassland, heath, marsh, fen and woodland making up the commons of
Sheringham and Beeston Regis.
Designated
a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by Natural England, the commons
boast flora and fauna ranging from adders, bats and deer, to 26 species of
butterfly and more than 400 varieties of flowering plant.
Mr Farrow
said the pond, which has been a permanent fixture on the commons since 1984,
was visited by 19 species of dragonfly, as well as kingfishers, herons, frogs
and toads.
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