Sand Martin Bank at Titchmarsh Nature Reserve

A few years ago an artificial sand martin bank was built at Titchmarsh Nature Reserve. The aim was to attract a breeding group of sand martins back to the area. When it was a working gravel pit there was a small colony on site. The birds used the sand that had been exposed during the gravel extraction process. With the closure of the workings, the pits filled with water to make what is now the lovely wetland nature reserve. A previous committee member missed the sand martins and left some money to build an artificial bank. This was duly done but has never been successful. One possible reason is that the holes in the concrete blocks making up the face of the bank were made too narrow. The diameter that was drilled was the correct diameter for a natural hole but in an artificial bank the hole has to be wider to allow the bird to excavate its own tunnel in the sand. This year we have tried to open up some of the holes to make them suitable. This proved very difficult as the concrete had hardened since the bank was built. However we have managed a few holes and we shall see what happens. The photo below shows Roly Scotney drilling out one of the holes.