Power volunteers create wildlife habitat in a Cambourne wood
Building new homes for bats, reptiles and small mammals and collecting sacks full of rubbish were two of the tasks carried out by volunteers improving a small Cambourne wood
A group of willing workers from East Anglian offices of UK Power Networks, spent the day building, cutting, clearing and creating habitat for creatures and plants.
The woodland area, near an electricity substation, is only just over one acre but volunteers collected eight sacks of rubbish that included bottles and cans, plus bulkier items including an old sofa, a tyre and a mangled bicycle frame.
The volunteers used their Donate a Day which gives the company’s 6,000 staff two paid days each year to volunteer in their local communities.
The employees built a hibernacula, a shelter made out of natural materials, to offer a home for invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians or small mammals. They put together some dead hedging around the perimeter which will help mark off the area and could provide shelter for small mammals.
Three bat boxes were fastened to a tree facing different directions so the bats can choose one with the optimum conditions as weather and temperature fluctuate.
There’s a mixture of trees on the site, including hawthorn, oak, elder and maple, goat willow and blackthorn. Some of the these were cut back to allow more light to reach the ground and encourage wildflowers and a variety of grasses to grow.
All the biodiversity enhancements were recommended by an ecologist who surveyed the site as part of UK Power Networks Environmental Action Plan.
The company’s environment advisor Heather Patrick, who was part of the team, said: “We had a very busy and successful day. It was great to see all the accumulated rubbish gone and to have opened up the woodland canopy so that more sunlight will reach the floor. I’m looking forward to seeing a greater range of wildflowers appearing over time and signs that the bats have adopted the boxes for roosting.”
A group of willing workers from East Anglian offices of UK Power Networks, spent the day building, cutting, clearing and creating habitat for creatures and plants.
The woodland area, near an electricity substation, is only just over one acre but volunteers collected eight sacks of rubbish that included bottles and cans, plus bulkier items including an old sofa, a tyre and a mangled bicycle frame.
The volunteers used their Donate a Day which gives the company’s 6,000 staff two paid days each year to volunteer in their local communities.
The employees built a hibernacula, a shelter made out of natural materials, to offer a home for invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians or small mammals. They put together some dead hedging around the perimeter which will help mark off the area and could provide shelter for small mammals.
Three bat boxes were fastened to a tree facing different directions so the bats can choose one with the optimum conditions as weather and temperature fluctuate.
There’s a mixture of trees on the site, including hawthorn, oak, elder and maple, goat willow and blackthorn. Some of the these were cut back to allow more light to reach the ground and encourage wildflowers and a variety of grasses to grow.
All the biodiversity enhancements were recommended by an ecologist who surveyed the site as part of UK Power Networks Environmental Action Plan.
The company’s environment advisor Heather Patrick, who was part of the team, said: “We had a very busy and successful day. It was great to see all the accumulated rubbish gone and to have opened up the woodland canopy so that more sunlight will reach the floor. I’m looking forward to seeing a greater range of wildflowers appearing over time and signs that the bats have adopted the boxes for roosting.”
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