Men’s shed makes homes for insects

More than 80 insect homes and bird boxes have been produced by the Neerim and District Men’s Shed in recent months to help regeneration of areas affected by the 2018 Bunyip fires. The boxes and homes were built in a project funded by the Bendigo Bank’s Bushfire Appeal.

In February the Bunyip Community Recovery Committee and the Friends of Mt Cannibal Reserve held a meeting of community groups requesting insect homes and bird nesting boxes be built to help recovery in affected areas. Representatives from Neerim District Men’s Shed attended this meeting and rose to the challenge by offering to build a number of these animal homes.

The original concept of the project was for the larger men’s sheds in the district to make kits that could be assembled by smaller “sheds” or school groups. Covid-19 social distancing restrictions made this impossible.

As a result, members of the Neerim District Men’s Shed worked with the Bunyip and Mt Cannibal groups to take the initial designs, suggest improvements, purchase the materials and pass them on to individual members to produce in their own home workshops.

To date, more than 80 insect homes and bird boxes have been delivered to the Bunyip and Cannibal Hill Groups and to local bird lovers in the area.

While people are well aware of the importance of birdlife to bush areas, insects are also an important part of the ecosystem. They aerate the soil, pollinate blossoms, and recycle nutrients back into the soil. Like birds, much of these insect’s natural habitat is destroyed in bushfires and initiatives such as these are designed to help with restoring their population.

The insect homes were designed by the Australian Native Bee Research Centre in New South Wales with some alterations by the men’s shed.

Each hole in the insect home mimics homes made by a wood borer. The holes are 100mm long enabling female insects to crawl inside to lay up to five or six eggs.

Sue Harris from the Friends of Mt Cannibal Hill group thanked the Neerim Men’s Shed and extended an invitation to its members to inspect them when restrictions allow, saying, “Thank you so very much for building these homes. It’s very impressive that you’ve built all of them, and so quickly, while at the same time adding valuable changes to the design.” “When the Covid-19 restrictions are over we’ll invite your members to Mt Cannibal Flora and Fauna Reserve to show you where a lot of the homes will be placed,” she added.

With gradual lifting of restrictions, the industrious builders should be able to see their handiwork doing its job in coming weeks.