Boxlife/Sustrans Project

Bob and myself have been working over the winter on a small project with Dave Clarke, a friend of ours who runs with a few other volunteers a very small organisation called Boxlife, they produce bird nesting boxes to be located in public and private places like schools, allotments, farms and woods.
A few years ago a project was drafted to put in a linear route from Colsterworth up to Easton using the old railway line, Dave knows this area well as he works at Easton and also volunteers in the nearby area for the “Life on the Verge” project run by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and so approached me in my volunteering role as a Sustrans Ranger about the idea of placing some nest boxes up along the railway line. Some time later an agreement was given for Boxlife to install boxes on the Colsterworth side of the A1 after negotiations with the local Parish Council, now all that was left was an agreement with Railway Paths Ltd via Nicola Jones (Sustrans) to do the Easton side of the railway line.
A survey would first have to be carried out to identify where suitable nest boxes would be located, using GPS we were able to pinpoint the exact location of where we wished to place them. This information was then sent to Railway Paths Ltd and after a few months of negotiations it was agreed that a licence could be granted so the first boxes could be sited this year.
The first 12 boxes off various sizes sited on 4 March, these included 1 Robin box, 1 Tawny Owl box and 10 boxes with either 25 or 35 mm apertures. The second phase of the project from Easton up to the East Coast mainline will be dealt with in the future after the nesting season.

In a way the Easton project has been a beta project and what I would like the group to work with Boxlife again this summer to place some nest boxes up along the railway line from Woolsthorpe Top Lock to Muston. We could have various workdays with such a project like surveying, nest box making and not forgetting installing. Such an idea would need Railway Paths Ltd permission again but they could be approached again in a few months time.

You can find out more about Boxlife at www.myspace.com/box_life