This page contains downloadable plans for a selection of wildlife homes and habitat features used by IWG, the Greenways Project and other local groups:
(Click on any of the photos to view a larger version on the flickr website)
Bat Roost BoxThis is a version of a tried and tested design that is widely used in the UK. Although this type of summer roost box can be placed around trees in gardens and on walls, they work best in large numbers – e.g. 30 or more - placed in conifer woodlands. They may be used by many species of bat.
Download plans for Bat Roost Box
This design combines accessible underground crevices and soft, burrowable soil, giving most amphibians a good winter home, as well as providing many invertebrates with a good habitat throughout the year. It is best situated near to an area of long grass – which will provide both frogs and toads with a good hunting ground.
Download plans for Frog & Toad Hibernaculum
A simple design that provides a winter refuge for a selection of predatory insects, or a nest site for solitary bees. These are fairly easy for youngsters to make – with a little assistance, and can be positioned around the garden or in young woodlands.
Download plans for Insect Nest Box
A luxury winter refuge for a range of butterflies and predatory insects, as well as a nest site for solitary bees. An ideal project to place around the garden or allotment, to give these garden helpers a head start in the spring.
Download plans for Insect Tower
Kestrel Nest Box This type of box is suitable to place in solitary trees in open countryside, where there is plenty of open grassland, arable farmland or heath nearby for hunting, or the box can be attached directly to buildings.
Download plans for Kestrel Nest Box
Stag Beetle Pyramid This design, which is really an imitation tree stump, provides great habitat for Stag Beetles and for many other invertebrates – especially dead wood specialists. Stag Beetles lay their eggs around 60cm underground – so the pyramid should be at least this deep – and the larvae can take 5 years or more to eat their way through the rotting wood towards the surface. They will pupate just below ground level before emerging in their adult form. The pyramid is best situated in dappled shade on light soils, so that the female beetles can burrow down though it, and should be left undisturbed and allowed to decompose naturally.
Download plans for Stag Beetle Pyramid
Dormouse Nest BoxThere are two versions of this design: one relatively simple to construct, and one a little more advanced. These boxes are mainly used for Dormouse survey and monitoring projects, and are usually placed in large numbers throughout an area of woodland. The Essex and Suffolk Dormouse Group use this design as well as other types of box and tube to monitor the Dormouse population in several woods across the two counties.
Download plans for simple Dormouse Nest Box
Download plans for advanced Dormouse Nest Box
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.