News 
Local Pupils Help to Protect Birds for National Nest Box Week
22 February 2010
The Crown Estate has teamed up with fourteen pupils from Applegirth Primary School to build new nest boxes they built for trees planted by pupils from the school over eighteen years ago.
Pupils are following in the footsteps of their predecessors who planted the trees in the woodland in 1992 by looking after the area and building extra homes for birds in time to make it an ideal spot for nesting sites for birds like blue tits, robins and wrens.
If the boxes attract breeding birds pupils hope to install a nest box camera to study chicks once they have hatched. The camera would provide live feed pictures into classroom where pupils will learn how quickly chicks develop and fledge the nest, and what kind of food the parents provide.
Birds that normally nest in holes in trees are on the lookout for nesting sites at this time of year. The British Trust for Ornithology asked bird lovers across the UK to help birds by putting up nest boxes in their gardens as part of National Nest Box Week last week.
Forestry Manager Mike Libera said, “We are providing additional nesting sites for birds. It’s a great opportunity for the pupils to learn more about nature.”
“It seemed very fitting to use this area of woodland for the project as it was planted by previous pupils of Applegarth, Lochmaben, Lockerbie and Wamphray primary schools in 1992 as part of the celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the Queens accession to the throne”.
Staff said the pupils were very excited about learning how the birds breed and that building the boxes fitted nicely into their environmental studies. They built six new boxes, cleaned out the existing boxes and piled up cut branches to provide additional natural habitat and nesting sites for birds. They put up the new boxes on Friday 19 February with help from the Crown Estate staff.
Notes to editors
· National nest box weeks runs from 14 to 21 February as part of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity
Notes to editors on The Crown Estate
- On behalf of the nation, The Crown Estate manages a highly diverse £6 billion property portfolio across the UK. The value of its holdings in Scotland is £237 million.
- Its objectives, which are laid down by Parliament under The Crown Estate Act 1961, include enhancing the value of the estate and the revenue it produces.
- Every year The Crown Estate pays all of its surplus revenue to the UK Treasury for the benefit of all UK taxpayers: in 2008/09 this was £226.5 million. £15.5 million of this came from Scotland.
- Core values of commercialism, integrity and stewardship, guide and inform all The Crown Estate business activities.
- The Crown Estate is committed to working in partnership with the Scottish Government and members of the Scottish Parliament, local authorities and a wide range of other stakeholders to safeguard the long term interests of the environment and the communities with which we work.
- In Scotland, The Crown Estate includes:
- The marine estate consists of over half the foreshore and the seabed out to the 12 nautical mile territorial limit. The Crown Estate has the right to explore and utilise the resources of the UK continental shelf (excluding oil, gas and coal), including the right to license renewable energy in the form of offshore wind, wave and tidal power. We are working with our partners to ensure that Scotland is well placed to take advantage of the benefits that renewables will bring through employment and by reducing carbon emissions.
- The rural estate in Scotland comprises 43,000 hectares and includes the Glenlivet, Fochabers, Applegirth, Stirling and Whitehill estates. It includes 185 agricultural tenancies and 102 residential properties.
- The urban estate includes retail property in Edinburgh.
The Crown Estate in Scotland is managed from its Edinburgh Office at 6 Bells Brae Edinburgh EH4 3BJ.
Contact
For more information please contact Jolene Cargill at Pagoda Public Relations on 0131 556 0770.
