Birds cash in after Lottery millionaires make nesting boxes
£1m Havant scratchcard winner teams up with others for project
A HAVANT man is among a group of National Lottery millionaires who have teamed up for a lockdown project to build bird nesting boxes to give a boost to their local wildlife.
Eight lottery winners and their families joined the initiative to create the bespoke boxes, which will be set up at community sites run by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s (HIWWT) Team Wilder.
Patrick Morling, from Havant, who won £1 million on a scratchcard in 2018, said the project had helped keep him busy after he took early retirement from the paper cup factory where he worked, which was struggling during the pandemic.
The 63-year-old said: ‘Because of the lockdown and there’s not much you can do, particularly the way the weather was, it was a welcome distraction.
‘It kept your mind ticking over rather than sitting around doing nothing.’
Explaining how the lottery had changed his life, he said: ‘Before the win we looked at what we couldn’t do, now we look at what we can do.
‘It’s allowed us the opportunity to look at choices. Before the win it was getting up and going to work because of billpaying, but now I don’t have that worry.
‘Everything is settled. Money gives you peace of mind.’
David Mackie, 38, from Basingstoke, who won £1 million in 2014, said: ‘It was a challenge to start with, I won’t lie, I’m not fully DIYcreative, but I have two boys who were willing to help me, or laugh at me.’
On his win, Mr Mackie said he had pursued his passion for running and added: ‘It’s been a pretty whirlwind time. Life was improved obviously from the start. It’s given us the opportunity to make life comfortable and it’s taken away a lot of stress.’
Geoff, 69, and Judith Coombes, 67, who won £1 million in 2016, visited the Eco Eling project in their home city of Southampton to help install the nest boxes.
Mr Coombes, who used to be a builder, said: ‘Like so many people in the past year not able to travel or see friends and family, we’ve been trying to enjoy the simpler things in life, including the birdlife that visits our garden, so we were thrilled to be part of this project. It’s got me out of the house.
‘It has been a really constructive way to spend some of the darker winter days and now spring is here we’re really hoping that these nest boxes will, in time, provide a safe home to some of our feathered friends and encourage two-legged visitors to the Eco Eling site.’
Mrs Coombes said since winning they had taken many holidays, visiting 22 countries until a cruise had to be cancelled because of the pandemic.
Becky Fisher, from HIWWT, said: ‘While the future residents of these wonderful nest boxes won’t know they were constructed by a multimillionaire taskforce, hopefully some people who don’t usually visit will be intrigued and come along to take a look.
‘Nationally, since its launch in 1994 more than £338m in National Lottery funding has helped support 46 wildlife trusts in the UK to deliver projects for nature’s recovery across all four nations.’
It was a welcome distraction. It kept your mind ticking over.
Patrick Morling
Yes, even millionaires get bored during a pandemic lockdown. When you can’t travel, go to the theatre or pop out for a meal they, like the rest of us, need a creative outlet.
So, what do they do? Build bird nesting boxes of course.
Well, they do if they won their millions on the National Lottery which has teamed up with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.
In a great bit of public relations they persuaded some of those who struck it rich to spend their lockdown time doing something valuable for nature.
But whimsy aside, we have all – millionaires included – got a debt to repay to nature for the glories it has unfurled for us in the past 13 months.
Just like Covid, the natural world is no respecter of wealth or class – it will lap up anything we throw at it in a positive way and pay us back with knobs on. Remember those early mornings last spring when many of us heard the dawn chorus for the first time in years as there was no competing background noise? Cars and planes had vanished.
Now it is our turn to thank the birds for what they did and continue to do for our wellbeing. And it doesn’t take much to build a bird box and contribute to the conservation of breeding birds.
Nest boxes are becoming increasingly important as natural nest sites, holes in trees and old buildings, disappear because of building repairs or manicured gardens. Loss of these habitats can have consequences for birds which use the same nest site year on year, like swifts.
They often nest under the eaves of old houses and churches, allowing the bird to drop into flight straight from the nest. When the buildings are repaired these sites are lost, causing huge problems for swifts, which pair for life and meet their mate every year at the same nest site. So why not take a leaf out of a millionaire’s book and build a nest box during what’s left of lockdown?