A BIG thank you to the ETR Environmental fund who agreed our bid for funding of bat and bird boxes.
Crofton and Sparrow Woods is a Site of Special Scientific Interest as it is a rare wet woodland habitat in London supporting a wide range of plants, animals and birds as well as butterflies and moths.
But time has not been kind to the area. Conserving that biodiversity is a real challenge as the land has been largely unmanaged since the war with the consequence of increased young woodland and much less ex-arable areas, as well as climate change to the rainfall patterns. The loss of the mix of habitat has shown a significant decrease in the variety of birds seen over the past 50 years and bats were identified as an underperforming group in the woods by an RSPB senior ecologist earlier this year.
Providing suitable habitat for birds such as the Nuthatch, and our three species of bat, are essential to maintain the remaining diversity of the wildlife as well as the food chain. We sought bat boxes in order to create artificial “veteran tree features” in the woodland. There are relatively few of the very old, declining oaks that provide them - they are missing in this woodland possibly due to overharvesting in the 18th/19th centuries.
We are also developing an interpretation board dedicated to the birds and bats of Crofton Woods.
