How to build a nestbox in a wall cavity

Building conservation is fraught with ethical dilemmas. At one extreme there is pressure to freeze buildings at a particular point in time and another to modernise them beyond all recognition. One thing that gets overlooked is that buildings are something that all of us borrow for a few years before we “move on”. Modern life tends to make us too busy to notice our journey through our buildings and how it is interwoven with many other species. As part of on-going research into historic buildings as “ecosystems”, the author presents an opportunity to use a small recess in an old masonry wall to accommodate a nest box.