Scouts get hands-on experience to help their feathered friends

From the archive, first published Thursday 6th Apr 2006.

A GROUP of young Scouts flocked to a woodworking workshop to create bird boxes for their feathered friends.

Cubs and Beavers from Bishop Auckland made the nesting boxes with the help of staff from Bishop Auckland College.

The project, which was supported by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, will see the youngsters hang their designs in their gardens and record when birds use them.

The Scouts helped design the boxes using the college's Computer Aided Design equipment, and then made them.

The session was led by tutors Kate Simpson, Robin Laycock and Stephen Yorke, and Scout leader Robert Yorke said: "They produced some magnificent bird boxes.

"A lot of children are academically bright nowadays, but they don't have the chance to make things, so their eyes lit up. We should have a good bird population this year."

The children put the boxes together as well as painting and stencilling their designs on to them. It was the fourth year that the bird box workshops have been run and the wood was donated from local companies.

The youngsters paid £6 to buy their boxes, raising £150 which was donated to the college.

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