Owl Golf
Owl Golf
Birds On The Course!
One of the big attractions of golf is the chance to be out in the countryside, exercising, breathing the fresh air and stopping occasionally to admire the scenery.
Golf courses also a great place for wildlife and have a role to play in providing sanctuaries for threatened birds and animals, according to the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and golf’s governing body, the R&A.
Golf has been criticized in the past by green groups claiming courses use excessive water, pesticides and fertilizers but a new joint publication, Birds and Golf Courses: A Guide to Habitat Management (available through the R&A, priced £7.99), marks a change in attitude by the industry, highlighting golf courses across the UK where wildlife-friendly measures have been a success.
“Golf courses may have gained a bad reputation, perhaps not always justified, among environmentalists but that’s changing,” says the RSPB’s Nigel Symes, who co-wrote the publication.
“The truth is that every golf course has potential to be a sanctuary for wildlife and to provide an important stepping stone for birds and other animals whose habitat is under threat. While researching this report we have come across a lot of inspiring examples of golf courses doing great things for wildlife,” he says.
“We would now like more golf clubs to look at what they can do for skylarks, woodlarks, corn buntings and all kinds of birds. Planting native plants like heather and creating reed beds and hay meadows as well as reducing the use of pesticide and fertiliser can all make a big difference.”
Among those involved in encouraging wildlife is Steve Thompson, a greenkeeper at John O’Gaunt golf club in Bedfordshire, who, in his spare time makes bird boxes for wild birds including woodpeckers, jackdaws, and tawny owls.
According to the statistics, there 140,000 hectares of rough and out-of-bounds areas on UK golf courses, which could be managed for wildlife – a similarly-sized area is covered by all the RSPB’s UK nature reserves.
“For most golfers part of the enjoyment of a game is getting out of the rat race for a while and enjoying the wildlife,” says Steve Isaac from the R&A. “Often some wild bird song as you walk around the course can more than make up for a poor game of golf.
“There has been a growing awareness over the past decade or so in the sport that courses need to do more for wildlife. While there are some greenkeepers who put more water and pesticides on their courses than we would like, there are many golf clubs managing habitats for wildlife on their land.”
One golf course owner blazing a trail for wildlife is Paul Stevenson, from New Malton Golf Club in Hertfordshire. As well as cutting down on chemical and water use he has used the 40 hectares of out-of-bounds areas on his course to create habitats for birds and other animals.
“We have a thriving group of herons and a large number of woodpeckers here and it’s something our members love to see,” he says. “We even have a contingent of golfers who come along early in the morning to play when the wildlife is at its most active. They back and tell us what they’ve seen.
He adds: “I want to prove that you can encourage wildlife and reduce chemical use and still have a great course which makes a profit.”
FOOTNOTE: Many courses in the UK have for years been providing a habitat for wildlife including traditional links courses in Scotland and on the East Anglian coas, which provide a home for breeding waders like redshank and oystercatchers. Courses on the Western Isles support the threatened corncrake and a course near Abernethy is home to the UK’s only endemic bird, the Scottish crossbill. The chough, which has seen declines in recent years, is ideally suited to golf courses as it feeds on short grass.
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Birds You Can Attract into Your Garden
The American Robin is the largest thrush. Robins prefer to build their nest in the crotch of a tree. You can offer a nesting platform if you don’t have an appropriate tree. You should pick a spot that is, at least, six feet above the ground on a shaded tree trunk or under the overhang of a shed or porch. A created mud puddle in the vicinity, also, offers additional enticement, as robins use mud to hold their nests together.
Bluebirds can be attracted by putting up a bluebird house near an old field, golf course, cemetery, park or orchard. Bluebirds prefer nest boxes on a wooden fence post between three or five feet high or on a tree stump. Bluebirds, also, enjoy nesting in abandoned woodpecker nest holes.
The most consideration must be given to the hole diameter. A hole that is an inch and a half in diameter is small enough to deter starlings, which along with house sparrows, are known to kill bluebirds while sitting on the nest. Other animals are problematic to bluebirds, also. Cats, snakes, chipmunks and raccoons can be discouraged from bluebird nests by mounting the bluebird home on a metal pole or by using a metal predator guard on a wood post.
Purple Martins are a welcomed bird in many a yard because they are known to eat, nearly 2,000 mosquitoes a day. While it is true purple martins eat flying insects, don’t expect them to eliminate all the mosquitoes in your yard. The martins prefer dragonflies which prey on the larvae of mosquitoes. If you want to rid your yard of mosquitoes, you would have better luck if you put up a bat roosting box. One bat can eat thousands of mosquitoes in one night.
Martins, however, are entertaining birds. You will enjoy watching their antics in your yard. The best way of attracting martins is if you put a house on the edge of a river or pond, surrounded by a lawn or field. A nearby telephone wire gives them a place to congregate, as martins are sociable birds.
Purple martins, being sociable birds, nest in groups, also. Therefore, you will need a house with a minimum of four large rooms, six or more inches on all sides, with a 2 ½ inch entrance hole about 1 ½ inches above the floor. Drainage and ventilation are major factors in the design of a martin house. Porches with porch dividers, railings and supplemental roof perches like a TV antenna make any house more appealing.
Houses can, also, be constructed from gourds by fashioning an entrance hole and small holes at the bottom to permit drainage. If you make homes from gourds, it is not necessary to add railings and perches because adult martins will perch on the wire used to hang the house. Before you choose a house, you must think about what kind of pole you are going to put it on. Martins like their houses to be ten to twenty feet off the ground. Some poles are less cumbersome than others.
Wrens are not very choosy about their nesting place. Nest boxes with a 1 inch X 2 inch horizontal slot are enticing to the wrens. The Carolina wren requires a slot a little larger, 1 ½ in X 2 ½ inches. However, the large the opening, the better the chances that house sparrows will occupy the box. Wrens are known to fill the nest cavity with twigs, regardless of the fact they use the home to raise their young or not. Since male wrens build several houses so that the female can have her choice of a home, you should hang several nest boxes at eye level on tree limbs that are partly sunlit. Wrens are sociable. Consequently, they will not shy away from a nest close to your house.
Brown creepers and Prothonotary warblers like nesting behind the curved bark of tree trunks. Slab bark houses appeal to creepers in heavily wooded yards. Prothonotary warblers, also, prefer slab bark houses or bluebird boxes attached to a tree trunk. But their houses must be place over water such as a like, swamp or river with a good canopy of trees overhead.
Chickadees, Nuthatches and Titmice share the same habitat—feeders and food. If you put a properly designed nest box in a wooded yard, at least one of these species is bound to check it out. Chickadee houses should be placed at eye level. They can be secured to tree trunks or hung from tree limbs. The entrance h ole should be 1 1/8 inches in order to attract chickadees and exclude house sparrows. Nuthatch houses should be anchored five to six feet off the ground.
Barn Swallows and Phoebes are easy to attract if you have the right habitat like an old shed or open barn. Their nesting behavior, not their song or plumage, which at will catch your attention. But they tend to nest where you rather not have them — on a ledge directly over your front door. You can offer them a nesting shelf near the front door to prevent a mess right at the door.
Violet green and Tree Swallows prefer nest boxes attached to dead trees. You should place the boxes about seven feet apart for these birds with white bellies and iridescent blue-green backs and wings. These insect-eating birds like to be on the edge of a large field that has a river or lake nearby.
Violet-green swallows, generally, nest in the forested mountains of the West. Boxes placed on large trees in a semi-open woodland will tend to attract them.
Woodpeckers of all types can be attracted with a suet feeder. But, only, the flicker is likely to use a bird house. They prefer a box with a roughened interior and a floor covered with two inches of layered wood chips or sawdust. Flickers are, especially, fond of nest boxes filled with sawdust because they pile it up to suit themselves. The box should be placed high up on a tree trunk, exposed to direct sunlight for best results.
Flycatchers—the great crested and its western cousin, the ash-throated flycatcher, are commonly, found in rural areas that have wooded lots and in wooded suburbs. They use abandoned woodpecker holes for nesting sites. Flycatchers tend to nest in a bird house if it is placed ten feet high in a tree in an orchard or at the edge of a field with a stream.
Owls very rarely build their own nests. Great-horned and long-eared owls like abandoned crow and hawk nests. Most other species nest in tree cavities and bird houses. Barn owls like selecting nesting sites near farms. These birds will nest in barns, silos and church steeples where trees are sparse. You can try fastening a nest box for owls about fifteen feet up on a tree trunk if you live near a golf course or farm.
Screech owls prefer abandoned woodpecker holes at the edge of a neglected orchard or field. They will love boxes lined with an inch or two of wood shavings. You may attract a second tenant in one season—a kestrel, if you clean out the box in late spring after the young owls have fledged.
You need to provide drainage, ventilation and easy access for monitoring and maintenance for the boxes. A mixture of concrete and sawdust offers protection other houses cannot provide—squirrels cannot chew their way in.
About the Author
Mary Fesio is the owner and webmaster of www.FeedersFountainsAndBirdhouses.com. This is a website that offers a large variety of quality bird houses, bird feeders, garden statuary, indoor water fountains and outdoor water fountains for every taste and decor. Prices are exceptional. Browsers are welcome.