Children in Gifhorn build raccoon nesting boxes for the forest!

Children in Gifhorn build raccoon nesting boxes for the forest!

The daycare center Flying Mushroom in Gifhorn at the end of June 2025 has twice the reason to be happy: 100 raccoon nesting boxes were handed over to the district forester of the Lower Saxony State Forest. This great project, which stimulates the little ones, to make their own contribution to environmental protection, was supported by the "Guten Waldstiftung", which provided the construction for the nesting boxes. This foundation is committed to ecological forestry and forest natural protection and thus promotes important environmental projects in the region.

The children of the Tied mushroom daycare center were committed to the matter. Under the guidance of educator Sebastian Lüssen, they set out to put together the kits. "It was a real challenge, but the children showed a good hand," said Lüssen. The small components had to arrange, hold wooden panels together, hit nails and turn screws. Förster Dennis Gloss supported the action by giving the children three finished nesting boxes and demonstrating them how they are attached to trees.

owe a lot of

The relevance of such projects becomes particularly clear when you take a look at the challenges that arise from raccoons. These nestrusters enjoy an ever greater influence in Germany and are a threat to many bird species. According to estimates, over 1.5 million raccoons live in Germany, which originally come from North America and are now considered an invasive way. This is a development that also takes up the "Stöckmann Foundation". In her project, she pursues the goal of developing protective devices for nesting boxes in order to better protect the eggs and nestling of the birds.

The biological station Gütersloh/Bielefeld documents the behavior of these animals with the help of wild cameras. It is examined how raccoons learn new techniques to overcome protection devices. These findings are crucial in order to further develop effective protective measures and offer valuable help in creating nesting boxes that are protected from predators.

What is a good nesting box design?

But what does a suitable nesting box look like? Ideal boxes are built -safe, with a special stem or cantilever that makes it difficult to access nestrust. According to experts, nesting boxes should be hung at least two meters high to protect their residents. In addition, metal plates can be used in front of the entry hole and special defensive measures such as cat defense belts and water jet distributors to keep predators away.

The daycare manager, Lisa Perner, was pleased with the commitment of her protégés and emphasized that the children had a lot of fun with this construction project. "It is important that the little ones learn how to protect nature," said Perner, who underlined the importance of such initiatives.

The remaining 17 nesting boxes are hung in the Giebel forest area between Parsau and Rühen to make a contribution to maintaining domestic bird stocks. By networking education and environmental protection, those responsible not only manage to give children manual skills, but also to give awareness of nature.

Future -oriented projects such as this help to promote ecological balance in our region and to draw the children aware of the challenges of nature conservation. "We have to do something now so that our nature is secured," concluded Perner.

For more information about the nesting boxes and their protective measures, interested parties can be found on the pages of the Stöckmann-Foundation and Federhilfe go.