Nest Box Installation at Pilchers Bridge Reserve

Posted on 6 May, 2013 by Connecting Country

Trust for Nature held a nest box installation workshop on Sunday, 21 April on a private property neighbouring Pilchers Bridge Nature Conservation Reserve (NCR), south-east of Bendigo.

The workshop is part of a larger project being run by the Trust, which provides nest boxes to 13 private properties that border Pilchers Bridge NCR. Four of these properties already have a Trust for Nature conservation covenant in place. The Trust is also placing nest boxes within Pilchers Bridge NCR itself, to help create better habitat for hollow-dependent wildlife. With more nest boxes on more properties, it is hoped that this combined effort will lead to more wildlife using the Box Ironbark forests of northern Victoria.

Miles Geldard from Wildlife Nestboxes, ran the workshop and taught 34 private landowners how to install the nest boxes and where best to place them. Each attendee received a number of nest boxes at the end of the session.

The nest boxes cater for a whole suite of hollow-dependant wildlife such as the Brush-tailed Phascogale. In addition, two Powerful Owl and two Barking Owl nest boxes have also been installed by an arborist on several of the private properties and in Pilchers Bridge NCR.

‘This project is an example of the important role that conservation on private properties can play. By doing this, we are hoping to increase the prey available in the local area for the Powerful Owls that live in the Reserve. Powerful Owl’s are Australia’s largest owl, which is endangered in Victoria,’ said Kirsten Hutchison, Trust for Nature’s North Central Conservation Officer and project manager. The landowners involved in the project have been working with Landcare for 10 years to create a Biolink corridor between Pilchers Bridge NCR, Axe Creek and then across to Mt Alexander Regional Park.

The Nest Box project is funded under Trust for Nature’s Land Management Innovation Fund. The Fund was established in 2011 to improve conservation practise and is supporting a number of projects across the state.

The installation of these Trust for Nature nest boxes complements Connecting Country’s nest box program which is targeted at the Brush-tailed Phascogale. Recently Connecting Country suggested that people with boxes on their propert passively observe them for activity on dusk during April and May. You can find out more about monitoring techniques and past results from Connecting Country’s nest box program by clicking here.