On Saturday morning The National Assembly for Wales became the latest landmark in Wales to join RSPB Cymru’s Giving Nature a Home campaign, aimed to inspire more people in Wales to create new homes for nature.
In June 2013, RSPB Cymru launched the campaign to help tackle the housing crisis facing Wales’s threatened wildlife, urging the people of Wales to provide a place for wildlife in their own gardens and outside spaces.
Equipped with beautifully crafted bird boxes RSPB members of staff joined the designers and builders of the bird boxes-the RSPB Cwm Clydach Wildlife Explorers group- to site and put up the 8 bird boxers around the Assembly building in Cardiff Bay.
Cwm Clydach Youth group leader, Vicky Rees said “We are thrilled to see our bird boxes up at the National Assembly building and hope that in years to come they will be well used by birds in Cardiff Bay. We hope the bird boxes remind decision makers at the National Assembly for Wales that nature is important to the people of Wales and that we can all Give Nature a Home.”
Assembly members also wholeheartedly supported the initiative. Sandy Mewies AM and member of the Assembly Commission said “I was delighted to be approached with this fantastic proposal and with the Commissioners agreement that we should support RSPB Cymru to provide bird boxes in Cardiff Bay. These National Assembly boxes are unique in being designed by young RSPB members. It reminds all of us, whatever our age and whatever we do that here in Wales we do value nature and our wonderful environment”.
As part of the campaign bird boxes have been put up in iconic buildings across Wales. Portmeirion (north Wales), Aberystwyth Arts Centre, National Botanic Gardens (mid Wales), and St David’s Cathedral (south west Wales) have all put up nest boxes and hedgehog houses to try and attract more wildlife. However, uniquely the National Assembly for Wales has installed bird boxes designed and made by young RSPB members. The boxes are designed to provide habitats for some of their favourite garden birds including the blue tit and house sparrow.
The launch of the campaign last year came a month after 25 wildlife organisations, including RSPB Cymru, released the groundbreaking State of Nature[i] report revealing 60 per cent of the wildlife species studied have declined over recent decades. If you want to join us and give nature a home, go to our website www.rspb.org.uk/homes. By visiting this website you can get your free Giving Nature a Home starter guide and share pictures, tips and ideas with others. You can also find out more about what the RSPB is doing to give nature a home in the wider countryside.