More than a hundred volunteers flocked to a Nestbox Buildathon run by the Tice’s Meadow Bird Group in Badshot Lea last weekend.

The free nest box building session took place at The Kiln (Badshot Lea Village Hall) on Saturday.

It was delivered in partnership with the Surrey Hills Society, Surrey Choices and the Badshot Lea Community Garden, and in support of National Nestbox Week.

Attendees included 1st Aldershot Brownies, the Saturday Zone children from Parkside (Aldershot & District Learning Disability), members of the Surrey Choices Growth Team, a number of children volunteering for their Duke of Edinburgh Awards, scouts working on their badges, pupils working on their Waverley School Challenge, and many local families from Farnham and Aldershot.

As well as nest box building, children were able to paint and decorate their nest boxes, learn about the Surrey Hills, tour the Badshot Lea Community Garden, and make pledges for nature.

Each family attending was able to take home a free nest box.

Nest boxes were also donated to St Peter’s Church in Wrecclesham, the Bourne Community Wildlife Garden, and Badshot Lea Village Infants School.

Tice’s Meadow Bird Group Secretary Mark Elsoffer said: “We started building nest boxes for the local community in 2018, and every year since we have made sure that every pupil at Badshot Lea Infants School gets a free nest box for their garden.

“We used to build them in our chairman’s back garden, but the event has got bigger each year, and we were delighted to host over one hundred people this year.

“Nature doesn’t respect borders and neither do we, so we are always keen to take our work beyond the boundaries of Tice’s Meadow Nature Reserve and into the local community.”

For more information about Tice’s Meadow Nature Reserve, including volunteering opportunities, see the website: www.ticesmeadow.org