Chris Packham’s first 3 months at Ecotalk: Beavers, barn owls and Bowyer’s Wood rewilding скачать в хорошем качестве

Chris Packham’s first 3 months at Ecotalk: Beavers, barn owls and Bowyer’s Wood rewilding

We are three months into Chris Packham’s tenure as Ecotalk’s Chief Ecologist and the team is getting stuck in. Join Ecotalk here: https://www.ecotalk.co.uk/our-deals At Bowyer’s Wood the team are installing a purpose-built beaver enclosure, putting up a barn owl nest box with ‪@raptoraidcio‬'s Jimmy Hill, and checking camera traps with Grace to see who is already using the site. Chris explains why a beaver fence is different to stock or deer fencing. The new enclosure is about a kilometre of fence around roughly 20 acres, anchored by an all-important stream and a ready food supply. Beavers are ecosystem engineers; once they arrive, expect ponds, wetlands and a cascade of biodiversity from aquatic invertebrates and amphibians to reptiles and birds. With Jimmy from Raptor Aid, a standard A-frame barn owl box is installed and Chris and Jimmy talk through why design details matter. Floor space for broods of up to six or seven, a safe drop from entrance to floor so chicks cannot topple out too early, and a perch ledge for adults and soon-to-fledge young. Out on site the team also start soft edging, letting scrub and young woodland push into the field to create a rough, living margin that shelters plants and makes life harder for browsing deer. Finally, Grace shares camera-trap highlights. Fallow deer, roe deer, a badger, squirrel, robin and a fox have all wandered past. Next targets include otter, polecat and, with luck, dormouse. If you care about practical, science-led rewilding, follow our journey. Subscribe, like and share to support more habitat creation for UK wildlife.