Completing the Bird Feeding Station at Stickle Ghyll car park

As our attention had been focussed on bag filling and helicopter lifts for the past few weeks, there’d been a few jobs that we’d had to put on hold for a while. But last week we had the opportunity to finish them off, before we return back up the fell for another season of upland footpath work.

Our main job was to finish off the bird feeding station at Stickle Ghyll car park. The first thing to do was to create a viewing area,  this involved attaching three hazel panels to a six foot high post and rail fence, which we’d previously constructed back in mid-March. Once they were securely fastened we then cut some viewing holes at different heights, to accommodate people of different heights and age ranges.

 Creating the viewing area  

To finish off the fenced area, a lower post and rail fence was also erected with a small wooden gate at one end. This will provide access to the feeding area, so that the feeders can be refilled when required.

  Hanging the Gate  

The final job was to knock in two long wooden posts to which we could connect a chain between, this would give us something on which to hang the feeders. Once all this was done the feeders were filled up. We are using three different types of feeder which are filled  with either suet balls, a seed mix or peanuts, this offers a variety of food types for different bird species. Our first visitor (a blue tit) arrived almost immediately as the last feeder was hung up.

 Looking out for our first visitor  

We’re hoping that this feeding station will not only help to sustain the local bird population, but also provide members of the public with the opportunity to see a good variety of wild birds close up. As well as common species like blue tits, great tits, and blackbirds other less well known species like goldfinches, treecreepers, long-tailed tits and great spotted woodpeckers have all been recorded in the area over the last few years. There have also been  a few sightings of Lake District specialities such as redstarts and spotted flycatchers, and although they’re unlikely to visit our feeders, having the feeders there may just open peoples eyes a little to the wildlife around them and thereby make them more likely to see some of these other, much less common, species as they head off on their walks.

  What else is out there?

So if you're passing Stickle Ghyll and you've got a few spare minutes why not drop in and see what you can see! Finally, we'd like to say a great big "Thank you" to everyone who has made donations towards this project, your support is greatly appreciated!