On Wednesday the 19th December, the Biodiversity Gardens Project went to Benhill Estate in Sutton for their annual Christmas fair. Our mission was to get both the kids and the adults involved in some bird box building, which they could then take home and put up around the estate to attract more birds to the area.
We had a collection of pre cut wood to piece together, kindly donated to the project by “Lakehouse”, who are local building contractors for the Sutton Building Partnership. So starting with this great pile of wood (See left), we set about trying to construct some homes for our 
avian friends.
We had many little helpers over the 
evening, all very focused and intent on screwing the pieces of wood together correctly. This proved difficult at times, due to the stiff screws and screwdrivers that are clearly designed for larger hands! However in the end we managed to build 15 fully functioning bird boxes and another 3 were taken home to be constructed by eager residents who had not had time to make theirs on the night.
There was a lot going on at the fair, including a brass band playing some very Christmassy music, and a brilliant puppet show depicting the nativity story through reworded songs from bands like Queen! There was also an arts and craft stall, where some enthusiastic bird box builders decided to decorate their bird boxes; although we wouldn’t advise putting glitter all over the front!
All in all it was a fantastic night and with 18 of the original 20 boxes taken, a successful night for us too. We would like to thank all those that took part and hope that they put those boxes to use before the spring.
