16 habitat boxes installed for Broxtowe Green Rewards prize winners in Watnall and Nuthall West

Green Rewards is a free platform where users can accumulate points for completing sustainable actions such as recycling, walking and reducing the amount of energy they use. These points can then be exchanged for vouchers and prizes with options including £20 gift vouchers for M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and more. Every six months the top performing ward on Green Rewards gets to choose from a selection of biodiversity prizes on offer.  

As the ward with the most points, Watnall and Nuthall West residents were given a range of options to choose from as the prize for their community. They were given the choice of wildflower annuals, tree planting, bulb planting or bird and bat box installation. Through popular vote, the residents decided to add the habitat boxes to one of their local green spaces. This is the first time this prize has been on offer and residents can look forward to seeing the positive impact this project has on local wildlife.

The ten bird boxes and six bat boxes were successfully added to trees in Watnall Spinney thanks to support from Nottinghamshire Bat Group who donated two boxes, the Nest Box Group and the Notts Green Rewards scheme. 

The Mayor of Broxtowe, Councillor Sue Paterson joined Councillor Peter Bales, Ward Councillor for Watnall and Nuthall West and members of the Council’s Environment Team, along with John Parker, Chair for Nottinghamshire Bat Group and John Revill, Manager of the Nest Box Group at Watnall Spinney for the installation of these boxes.

The bird boxes are designed for Great Tits, Blue Tits and Nuthatch while the bat boxes are for Common and Soprano Pipistrelle, Brown Long Eared Bats, Leislers and Noctule bats. All of these species have been recorded on site so when visiting this local space, residents should keep their eyes peeled for their wild new neighbours.

Portfolio Holder for Environment and Climate Change, Councillor Helen Skinner said, “Congratulations to the residents of Watnall and Nuthall West! It’s great to see residents getting involved on the Green Rewards platform and helping to tackle climate change.

Providing bird and bat boxes such as these are vital for our local wildlife, offering safe and sheltered places for local populations to nest and roost, whilst helping to maintain and increase their populations. Thank you to Nottinghamshire Bat Group and the Nest Box Group for supporting this work.

This wonderful project shows that when we come together to act on climate change, we can all make small changes to create a big difference.”

John Revill commented, ‘We anticipate the bird boxes that have been installed will house around 60 fledglings per year. The boxes will be monitored and the data will be sent to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) database. The Nest Box Group also monitors and reports data for Bramcote Hill Park, Bramcote Crematorium and Oldmoor Wood in Strelley. The boxes at Oldmoor, Bramcote and the crematorium were home to 294 fledglings in 2024. The need for nest boxes is clearly in huge demand. Box occupation is over 95% every year. Good to see a feeding station at Watnall Spinney, this will help birds survive the winter.’ 

John Parker commented, ‘Bat populations for all species plummeted last century. We attribute this to loss of habitat, woods and hedgerows as well the use of pesticides.  At the end of the last century bats became a protected species by law, which has helped their slow recovery. However, this year’s National Bat Monitoring Scheme has reported that some species have started to show further decline over the last 5 years.

Nottinghamshire Bat Group have two bat box schemes in Broxtowe, one to the south at Bramcote Hills Park with 27 boxes, the other centrally at Stonepit Plantation with 13 boxes, the 6 boxes at Watnall Spinney will now enhance the habitat in the north. More information can be found at www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org/nature-reserves/stonepit-plantation (Opens in a new window). 

Broxtowe residents can sign up to the Green Rewards platform and join over 3,000 Broxtowe residents who have avoided almost 500 tonnes CO₂e (that’s a massive 500 hot air balloons worth!) so far through actions taken via the app since its launch. Green Rewards is available on desktop (Opens in a new window) or residents can download the app by searching for ‘Notts; Green Rewards’ in the app store.