Wildlife continues to be at the heart of a busy season at The Sign Maker. If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know that caring for the natural world has always been important to our directors, Kate and Shaun. Between bats, swallows and wildflowers, there are certainly plenty of wildlife updates for you in this weeks blog!
Re-roofing For The Bats
We have a number of barns onsite, including our main workshop and several smaller barns. We are currently having one particular space re-roofed and repurposed as a bat loft. This additional space designed with the bats in mind, should provide a safe place for the bats to live. The new bat vents being installed will enable the bats access to safe, discrete pathways between our new ‘bat loft’ and the outdoors.
There are a variety of reasons that the bat loft will be beneficial for the bats. This alternative habitat ensures that mother bats can raise their young in a protected environment. This is particularly important given the habitat loss and degradation over recent years. The bat loft has been designed with a special felt, as opposed to traditional insulation material. The different material allows the bats to better grip on to it.
You might find yourself asking, why is it so important to protect the bats? Our main response is that they are imperative to our ecosystem. They eat a significant amount of bugs, making them a very natural form of pest control! Bats are also excellent pollinators, which we know to be an important part of promoting biodiversity. Benefits aside, bats are also fascinating creatures! They’re the only known flying mammal, and they are unique in so many ways!!
Swallows Taking Flight
The team here have always been bird lovers! Whether passing through or here all year round, Yelland Farm has always made an excellent home for a wide variety of bird species. This year, a bird species that we have enjoyed providing provision for is the swallows.
Swallows have been arriving at Yelland Farm year after year for generations. Their arrival is greatly anticipated by the team, and we’re always sad to see them go! The swallows typically nest around the site, however this year, a rather cheeky pair decided to nest in our paint spraying room! We often see them flying in and out as they continue to build their nest and explore the site. They’re fascinating to watch!
Because we believe in allowing the wildlife to make their own home, we’ve decided to leave the nest in situ. though Kate quickly went out and bought a number of Swallow cups! Our brand new swallow cups may not see many swallows until next year, but we hope that they may find this more comfortable than the workshop (though the team will miss the extra company for sure)! We’ll keep you updated as they come and go!
Flourishing Wildflowers
The wildflowers may not be ‘taking flight’ like our bats and swallows, but they are certainly growing (both onsite and in the local area). From poppies and cornflowers to yellow rattle, it is great to see them blooming. Year upon year, we hope to see our wildflower meadows go from strength to strength. Following ‘No Mow May’, the wildflowers have had a great season of growth. The local wildlife appears to be loving it too (if you’re at all curious about the benefits of a wildflower meadow, you can check out a previous blog of ours, or click here for a wildflower webinar from The North Devon Biosphere).
There is so much to be excited about and expectant for in this emerging summer season. We are glad to offer the local wildlife a safe place to call home. Yelland farm continues to be a host of wildlife activity throughout the year come rain or shine! We love watching different creatures thrive here, and love making it a wildlife haven as much as our home and workspace.
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