On a sunny morning in April, 10-year-old Louis Jeanneret and his 5-year-old brother Leo (ably assisted by Paul Hodgetts) constructed the East Farndon Bug Hotel on Marriott Green.
Residents including ladybirds, woodlice and beetles quickly flew and crawled in, eager to settle into the new en-suite rooms.
As part of the hotel complex, a bird box that Louis had built at Cubs was installed in a near-by tree, ready to receive its first occupants.
The hotel campus also includes a hedgehog house, built by Louis and his dad Paul, and this sits close to the main hotel, on the bank near the hedgerow for easy hedgehog access. Refurbishment has been completed, and it is now covered in earth, moss and sticks. Bookings are good for 2021, but the first hedgehog is yet to arrive.
A second hedgehog house has already been placed on the left-hand side of the green container as the facilities continue to expand.
Back in December at the Jeanneret home, mum Carly put out 3 Christmas wreaths for recycling, but before she had chance, a family of robins nested in one of them. Mrs Robin laid 3 eggs, and 3 baby robins hatched in April. Carly kindly donated the other 2 wreaths to Marriott Green and these are hanging on trees, waiting for more robins to make their nests.
If anyone has any wreaths they’d like to donate (at any time of the year), we would love to hang more up.
Inspired by Louis and his family? We would love to add more bird boxes etc to the East Farndon hotel complex. Children – grab your parents! Here are some ideas for building bird boxes, bug hotels and hedgehog houses. There are lots of websites that tell you how to build them – these are a few examples:
Build a bird box (rspb.org.uk)
Naturehood Actions | Wildlife Housing
Bug Hotel Plans DIY | Build an Insect Hotel – The RSPB
How to make a hedgehog house | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Keen to help?
Volunteers are turning the neglected area of land around the green container on Marriott Green into a wildlife area. If you can help in any way, for example, donating plants, bird boxes etc – or if you have some great ideas, please contact Anthea, Donna and Judy via the website. Plants (e.g. colourful bushes) for the grass bank that borders the road would also be gratefully received.
The pdf version of this article can be accessed by the clicking this link: Marriott Green Bug Hotel
Also, for more information, click this link to visit the Marriott Green Home Page
Written by Judy Hodgetts – May 12th 2021