Birds get broody

Bird keepers are giving the site’s feathered collection a helping hand ahead of the upcoming avian breeding season.

Staff are currently adding nesting boxes and extra foliage to enclosures so the birds have somewhere safe and private to lay their eggs.

Birds Section leader, Kellie Piper, pictured above, said: “We’ve been busy making up nesting boxes for the last few weeks, which we’re now fixing into enclosures in readiness for the breeding season, which usually begins around late March and April.

“Every species has its own preference for egg laying, with birds like the lovebirds and java sparrows and macaws liking wooden nesting boxes, while the egrets and tragopans prefer platforms to nest on and others like to build their own nests in trees, so for them we will add extra planting which they can use.”