If you have followed me for a while, you will know that I like to think outside the box a little and create feeding stations that are a little out of the ordinary. I know they are not appreciated by all wildlife lovers but, for me, they provide me with a way of engaging my audiences and they often bring in people who may not usually watch a wildlife live stream. Once I have them hooked, I can then use the opportunity to educate and teach people all about the wonderful wildlife we have here in the UK. Children also love set ups like this, so I often use them in the schools I work in, again engaging the audience and then using this engagement as the start to education.
I have created lots of different scenes over the years but my mammal box ones have to be my favourite! The mammal box I designed, has removable ‘sets’. like a stage that I can dress! I use 1/12th dolls house furniture and accessories as they are the perfect size for small mammals. It is also great fun! The mammals that visit are only interested in the food. They have no comprehension of what scene they are interacting in. Their environment changes all the time and they are usually pretty unphased by a new scene in the box. The new smells are usually what slows their visits to start with, but it does not take them long to get going!
I actually built this scene over a year ago now, after I was very kindly gifted all the wonderful sweet shop bits and pieces. I was so thrilled with all these wonderful little jars of sweets and trays of incredibly detailed sweets, that I knew I just had to create something for my small mammals!
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Here is a little video so you can see the set inside the mammal box…..
It only took about an hour before a bank vole made a visit…
The camera is streaming LIVE, on my website, so you can watch it. It may take a little while for visitors to start coming in, but evenings and through the night are most busy, with occasional day visits too, especially as the weather gets colder.
I hope you enjoy and it brings a smile in these rather grey and rainy times!
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