Volunteers build 100-hole ‘sand martin hotel’ beside River Ure

A hand-built nesting wall created by gamekeepers and villagers on the Bolton Hall Estate in Wensleydale has helped save a long-established colony of sand martins after Environment Agency riverbank works threatened their traditional nesting site.

Around 40 volunteers joined the estate’s gamekeeping team to construct a 100-hole replacement nesting wall beside the River Ure, carefully finishing it with a mud coating designed to imitate the sandy riverbanks the birds naturally burrow into.

Within weeks of completion, the sand martins had returned and begun nesting in the new structure.

Head gamekeeper Ian Sleightholm said the project was driven by a desire to protect a bird that travels thousands of miles each year to return to the estate.

He said: “The fact that sand martins travel 4000km every year back to our estate from Africa, and weighing just 13-14 grams, amazes me.

“So, when we knew the Environment Agency planned to carry out riverbank work where our historical colony nested, we owed it to this little bird to offer an alternative in the form of a 100-hole sand martin hotel.

“Led by retired gamekeeper Simon Lester, the estate’s gamekeepers and volunteers built the wall together. It has been so rewarding to watch these fast-flying birds darting in and out of it, and the positive feedback from the general public has been really heartening.”

The project followed riverbank stabilisation works carried out by the Environment Agency, where the original nesting bank had to be removed to help protect the Grade II listed Lords Bridge downstream from erosion.

Retired gamekeeper Simon Lester led the construction effort, with volunteers from the surrounding village helping to mix and apply the mud finish.

The response from local residents has been overwhelmingly positive.

One regular walker along the River Ure wrote to the estate after spotting the new nesting wall, saying: “I cannot tell you how elated I am, it made my heart sing. Thank you so much for caring for our wildlife, it’s all very precious.”

Sand martins are the smallest European hirundines — the family of swallows and martins — and their populations have suffered significant declines in recent decades due to drought in their African wintering grounds.

The Bolton Estate said the new nesting wall forms part of a wider programme of habitat and wildlife conservation work across the estate.

This article originally appeared on Richmondshire Today.