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Fund-a-Bird is the nest box scheme that gives a homeless bird of prey somewhere to live.
A lack of suitable nest sites is a limiting factor for many bird species that rely on holes or cavities for their nests. At least four British raptor species are affected in this way – barn owls, kestrels, little owls and tawny owls. Whilst areas of foraging habitat may exist, without suitable nest sites breeding opportunities and population growth are limited.
Many of our cavity nesting raptors have become dependent on the provision and maintenance of artificial nest boxes due to the loss of natural sites, such as old hollow trees and traditional agricultural buildings.
Fund-a-Bird is a nest box installation and monitoring scheme run by the Hawk Conservancy Trust that aims to address this lack of suitable nest sites, and give owls and kestrels a home.
By subscribing to this project you will be contributing to the environmental survey of suitable habitat, the building and erection of nest boxes, monitoring of nest boxes, and the ringing and follow up health surveys on chicks.
Volunteers at the Hawk Conservancy Trust build the nest boxes. Because each of the four target species have different nesting requirements the nest boxes are all specially designed for their needs, and mimic their traditional natural cavities.;Staff from the Hawk Conservancy Trust’s Conservation and Research department find areas of good feeding habitat and gain permission from landowners and farmers to erect nest boxes, and encourage them to maintain and create areas of foraging habitat for the birds.
During the breeding season specially trained and licensed staff monitor and maintain the nest boxes and any chicks that hatch inside the boxes are ringed with British Trust for Ornithology leg rings so that their future progress can be monitored.
To find out more about how Fund-a-Bird works and its research objectives, click here
As a supporter of Fund-a-Bird, you will receive benefits not available to anyone else:
- information about the target species
- an annual report that describes the activities in your four adopted boxes over the year and of the
project as a whole
- information about the research work associated with the scheme
- we will also invite you, and a guest, to an exclusive event at the Trust, where you will
be given a presentation of the Fund-a-Bird scheme and get to meet and hold a bird
of prey – either a Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Little Owl or Kestrel.
Please note: for the protection of the nest sites, we will be unable to tell supporters exactly where adopted nest boxes are located. Please be aware that you may also share your boxes with other supporters.
The Fund-a-Bird nest box adoption scheme costs only £32.50 per year. To support this scheme please complete the application form here.
For more information please contact the Trust office on 01264 773850 or email: info@hawkconservancy.org.
The Hawk Conservancy Trust would like to acknowledge the help and support of Arqiva, one of our corporate sponsors, for funding the design and production of the promotional material for Fund-a-Bird.
The leaflet describing the Fund-a-bird project is now available on this site. Download the leaflet (Adobe Acrobat file 920KB)
Fund-a-Bird is eligible for Gift Aid - a painless way for UK taxpayers to have the Inland Revenue increase the value of your charitable spend without costing you any more. Read the flier (Adobe Acrobat .pdf format. If you don't have Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™, you can download it for free here)
