Hi Observers,
I did have a brilliant, in my opinion, plan about putting up bird boxes for the micro community of which I am a resident.
This would also be beneficial for the wider community including children. I gained permission to put up as many as
was practical, with a stipulation that no screws, nails or bolts would be used which will damage the trees. Fair enough.
This are 30 established trees in the middle of a village.
This was in late 2019 and everything was looking good to go to the first stage. Raising funds.
Then in March 2020 something happened. The rug was tugged from under my feet.
Fast forward to December 2021. I had to start again. Fortunately I got permission again. That is where I am now.
So, my reason for tapping into your extensive knowledge is this. What next?
My initial thoughts were to A) Raise funds to pay for them (the bird boxes). B) Find someone of an organisation to make them (including schools). C) Put them up.
Taking it at one stage at a time, as this is a longer term project, how do I raise funds?
Does anyone reading this have experience of getting money? I will greatly appreciate their help.
My thoughts are do I establish a not for profit group? A charity? A club? A resident association? Another? How do I do this?
Can any one of you help or point me in the right direction please?
Hopefully,
Hooky.
Hello John, I'll second Pete's suggestion of schools, the scouts and guides.
With the scouts and guides, that includes the younger members of those organisations, they will have badges/awards for participating in events around nature and the environment.
If you have a look at the following link to the Scout Association (the Girl Guides will also have a similar link), you should be able to find the badges for each section relevant to your goal.
https://www.scouts.org.uk/search?term=badges
With regard to fund raising, it can become quite expensive, so applying for funds is a good idea.
Have chat to your local councillor, if you're lucky enough to have a library, have a look in there, and not forgetting the many conservation organisations there are in the UK alone,
Just to name three to start with...
There may a neighbourhood scheme near to the school or even where you live, have a look on social media for litter picks, sometimes members/organisers they are involved with some local conservation activities.
Also have a search for a local Natural History Society, there are quite a few dotted around the UK.
Something to keep in mind, many organisations who deal with young and vulnerable people may require you to have a CEOP's or Criminal background check. I'm sure you will appreciate the reasons why.
Good luck with your venture, and it will be interesting to know how you manage to progress.
Don't worry about the social media it was only a suggestion, I'm sure you will come across plenty who partake and no doubt new volunteers will have access to social media.
I'm pleased we've been of help and its good to see the project getting off the ground.
Hooky said:Hi Mike,
A couple of things here. I have contacted my local RSPB group who have access to social media and will seek help on my behalf. I am a member but have not been able to attend meetings since Feb' 2020. You can probably guess why. Secondly I see underneath your name is Flickr. Can you enlighten me? The Peak Rambler I guess is your area of interest. Best regards, Hooky.
I'm pleased you're making headway with your project.
The link is safe to click on, Flickr is a photo (and video) sharing platform, where you decide the copyrights of your photos, while allowing everyone, or selected people, to see them.
Feel free to peruse, but I'll warn you, there's a hell of a lot mainly these days wildlife, but pre 2015 a lot from my hill and moorland walking days.
Sadly, Feb 2015 someone ran a red light while I was on a pelican crossing, which resulted in me requiring major lower leg reconstruction, hence no more hills and moors. While I'm still angry at the driver who put me in this position, I am happy to talk about it, and have turned negatives in to positives, with the help of family, friends, work and of course, the good people here.
So now I take lots of photos and have some trailcam videos from the garden of the wildlife that visits here, foxes, the occasional badger and lots of birds.
There are a few on here use Flickr, have a look at theirs as well if you can, there are a lot of good photos out there to view.