Wildhomes began in 1995 with the placement of a few dozen nest boxes. Then it was just a project to encourage birds to nest in a dense conifer wood where nesting sites were very limited. It soon grew to several hundred boxes and other people came to learn. By 1998 six people were working with boxes in several woods, and Wildhomes became an official project. We now have approx. 1,000 boxes, of over 15 different designs, spread over five counties and we are always looking to place more.

There are several limits upon the size of any animal population: food supply, suitable habitat or breeding sites to name but three. Many organisations further conservation by creating nature reserves or are dedicated to particular species. While all are valid forms of conservation, none catered for what we wanted to do.

To build and maintain habitats is expensive and there are organisations already doing just that, such as the RSPB and the National Trust. What we proposed to do was to provide breeding sites for as many forms of wildlife as we could within the habitats that already exist. A large wood supports dozens of birds but, if there are limited nesting holes, few pairs can breed. Wildhomes provides a surplus of nesting holes so that all species that want to breed have the opportunity to do so.

By the end of the 2002 nesting season over 10,000 eggs had been laid in boxes provided by Wildhomes. These resulted in a total of nearly 7,000 young birds of 20 different species. We had some success with small mammals and bats but these are areas of conservation that we have only just started to develop.

Wildhomes does more than place boxes. We also monitor as many boxes as possible to determine the success or failure rates of the occupants. An important study tool for conservation organisations is breeding rate, part of population monitoring. House sparrows have recently been placed on the ‘red’ list for British birds - the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) estimates we have lost ten million house sparrows since 1975. During 2001 we started placing boxes especially for this species and were successful in getting 10 pairs to nest this year; a small start but we can do more. All the information we gather is submitted to the BTO for inclusion in the national archives.

Most of the species we get are common, blue tits and great tits being the most numerous, although the information gathered is still of value. For some species we already provide a significant volume of the information gathered. In 2001 Wildhomes supplied 25% of the coal tit breeding information for the UK, and 10% for stock doves.

The numbers are simple - the more boxes provided, the more birds and mammals that use them. The greater the numbers of wildlife using the boxes, the greater the accuracy, and value, of the information gained. We can only achieve this by providing more boxes. We need more volunteers to monitor them and we need more habitats to place the boxes within.

You can help us to provide many more nest boxes and support the work of monitoring by either sponsoring a nest box or by becoming a member of Wildhomes. To find out more information you can contact us at Wildhomes, PO Box 53, Bourne, Lincs. PE10 0EN email to Wildhomes@btinternet.com