By Tyler Wright
The Belgrave Men’s Shed has made a contribution to supporting local wildlife by creating rosella nesting boxes for locals to use in their own backyards.
With materials from storm damaged areas supplied by Yarra Ranges Council, men’s shed members manufactured 20 nesting boxes now on display at Belgrave Library for locals to use as a habitat for birds awaiting the re-growth of storm affected tree hollows.
Belgrave Men’s Shed secretary Dave Ashton said the nesting boxes took around three months for members to build, hampered slightly by a four-week closure of the shed due to flooding in October 2022.
“It’s a habitat for the rosellas and a habitat for the sugar gliders. If they’ve lost their current location in the trees or in the eaves, it gives them an opportunity to be rehoused at the same site so they don’t have to travel away from the site,” Mr Ashton said.
“It’s a really good concept for retaining the native animals and where they are currently located.”
Mr Ashton said the men’s shed believes in helping the community, and being able to share the boxes with the community adds a special meaning to the makeshift habitats.
“We manufacture a number of different boxes for a number of different organisations, we make our own shed boxes, we make Wildlife Victoria boxes, and then we did the shire’s boxes for their program,” he said.
“The plus of their programme was the fact that they were going into the community, either sold or donated through the shire.”
As part of Yarra Ranges Council’s Healing in Our Gardens program, the Monbulk, Morrison, Montrose Yarra Glen and District, Mooroolbark, Croydon and Badger Creek and District men’s sheds also produced nesting boxes for native species made out of fallen timber sent to a mill in the Macedon Ranges, which have been gifted to storm affected residents.
Yarra Ranges’ Lyster Ward councillor Johanna Skelton said after the 2021 storm event, the council heard from a lot of people who had “lost trust” in the environment and also harboured “a lot of fear”.
“There was also the fact that so many trees came down… over 20,000 trees, and those are then trees that either had hollows, or they’re unlikely to develop hollows in the next years because they’ve then fallen,” Cr Skelton said.
“Because it takes so long to make a hollow, 100 years approximately, it’s really important that in the meantime we put things like this up to provide habitat.
“From an environmental perspective and from a mental health and community connection perspective, it’s just a really lovely project.”
Cr Skelton said she expects the nesting boxes at Belgrave Library will be popular with residents.
“The idea was that storm affected residents mostly in the Hills could sign up for Healing in Our Gardens and the nest box program and be part of education or be part of monitoring the nest boxes…if you’re in the Hills, in Belgrave, you can get these free boxes that are made by the Belgrave Men’s Shed, which is even more delightful,” she said.
For more information on the Healing in Our Gardens program, and tips for how to provide habitat on your property, visit https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Environment/Sustainable-communities/Healing-in-our-Gardens/About-the-Healing-In-Our-Gardens-program
