Project sets up home for owls in Hamilton Park
CRAIGHALL PARK – An owl box was installed by EcoSolutions, and at the same time residents learned about poison-free rodent control.
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An initiative that started three years ago is still ongoing as EcoSolutions continues to work with residents associations to install owl boxes. A recent project was conducted in Hamilton Park, Craighall Park, with PRABOA (Parkhurst Residents and Business Owners Association) paying for the removal of an owl box from a resident’s home and its reinstallation in the park. The project was done by PRABOA in conjunction with Craigpark Residents Association.
Sara Orchardson from EcoSolutions said the initiative was to make space for spotted eagle-owls to breed in.
“The owls will breed as it is a suitable season to do that now. They also seek cavities from dead trees, although dead trees are not plenty in the city because they are cut down quite a lot.”
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She further explained that the boxes need to be serviced once a year, and before installation they were sprayed with an anti-bee spray to prevent bees from building their own nests inside. So far, Sara said they have 100 occupied boxes, and they have installed bat boxes as well.
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Orchardson also taught about poison-free rodent control, which is in the form of food and a rat flasher, which is a bright white light that can disturb the rat’s vision to the point where it becomes uncomfortable and then leaves.
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The owl box was successfully installed on the day.
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Details: EcoSolutions 011 791 7326; PRABOA www.parkhurstvillage.com; Craigpark Residents Association www.cra.org.za
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