Own a garden? You could help

Adam Hewitt • Last updated 28 Aug 2008 11:44 0 Comments

A PAIR of bird-watching students need help from homeowners with gardens.

Nicola Duncalf and Emily Wilson, both 20, are studying for an animal-based Biological Sciences degree at Reading University. But the third-year students live on campus and have no gardens, and are looking for 12 bird-watching helpers over the winter months to aid them with their dissertation.

Their study is examining whether bird feeding in urban gardens attracts urban mammals, and what effect it has on biodiversity and breeding performance of both the mammals and the birds.

Nicola, originally from Nottingham, said: "We are looking for people to volunteer themselves and their gardens to aid us in our study. The gardens will need to have at least one frequented bird feeder and the owners must be willing to sacrifice time for observations and collection of data for our results.

"Our study will run for about eight weeks at some point between November and January, when we will enlist twelve gardens and owners to observe and record observations regarding the breeds of birds visiting their gardens and the particular feeders they frequent. We will collect and disperse the feed daily, and we want to place infra-red camera equipment in their gardens to capture activities of urban mammals at night."

She said they will provide the charts, equipment and all other resources and information to make it very easy for garden owners to help out.

To find out more or volunteer your garden, email Nicola on sau06nd@reading.ac.uk or call 07521 908634 or 07976 069658.

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This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 28 Aug 08

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