making room for nature

Last Sunday I helped Mario, who works w the French Bird Commission (COWB), with a house martin project in Watermael Bosfoort, a commune on the SE side of Brussels. House martins are declining, so any project like this is worth the effort.

Over ten years ago, he put artificial nest houses on a French primary school nearby and he's been banding the birds that nested there ever since.

The banding data show that the house martins are steadily increasing in this area and that juveniles are now returning to breed. So these artificial nests can really make a difference!

All pumped up from that morning session, I left with BIG DREAMS! Like putting nest structures on my own kids' school (and neighboring schools!) ... building up more populations of house martins ... teaching kids about birds and conservation ... and about the importance of MAKING ROOM FOR NATURE. But as I knew and would soon rediscover, this wouldn't be as easy as it seemed.

Disappointment #1 - my kids school wasn't good for house martins. The current building has no overhang so the birds probably wouldn't find it suitable. BUT with plans to build a new school, there could still be hope ...

Hope #1 - discovering that the city of Tervuren is offering to put up artificial house martin nests, along with poop collection platforms underneath, which the city would clean every year! How simple could it get! I'd just have to find homeowners that would agree and have them sign on the x!

Hope #2 - within 2 blocks of our home I found 5 natural nests (though some were old or had fallen down) and 1 artificial nest! With house martins already nesting in the area, it could be possible to attract even more birds w the artificial nests and to build up the population.

Disappointment #2 - None of the neighbors with natural martin nests and "suitable" overhangs would have ANYTHING to do w helping house martins. Even though I pointed out the fact that the martins had previously built nests on their home, these people flatly said NO, even to the poop platform, which made no sense. If the martins nested there already, why not minimize the fouling by having a platform underneath? Unless they take matters into their own hands by knocking down the nests, which might explain why the homes with meticulous gardens only had remnants of nests still remaining. One thing's for sure, next year I'll be keeping a VERY close eye on the martins in our neighborhood and making sure there's no foul play.

LAST HOPE - Although our home isn't perfect, we're going to try putting up a false overhang, which involves attaching the nest structure to a piece of wood that hangs overhead. The kids would be so excited to have the birds nesting over their bedroom window. And at least we could set an example for the neighborhood by being good stewards for nature.

Sometimes you gotta start small ...