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Carrington Gardens hailed as fantastic example of a development safeguarding natural habitats

Keystone’s retirement living scheme in Humberston has been hailed as a “fantastic best-practice example” of a development safeguarding natural habitats for wildlife.

Keystone’s retirement living scheme in Humberston has been hailed as a “fantastic best-practice example” of a development safeguarding natural habitats for wildlife.

Carrington Gardens, our luxury scheme for over-55s, received the praise from the secretary of the Lincolnshire Bird Club, Jim Wright.

It comes after Mr Wright visited the development as part of a piece of work he is doing to put together an information pamphlet about the birds of the area.

He said: “The Carrington Gardens development is architecturally very pleasing, so I thought I'd take a look at that too.

“While there, I was intrigued to see some house martins flying about the site – and I was delighted when I checked the main building and saw pairs were feeding chicks within a couple of mud nests.  

“They make the nests out of tiny blobs of mud which they gather from around puddles.

“They are migrant birds which spend the winter in southern Africa. Lots are thought to perish through dehydration as they fly over the Sahara and very few nest in this part of Lincolnshire - probably no more than a score of pairs.

“I’d say the Carrington Gardens birds are precious. 

“To some, the nests aren't especially attractive and some householders remove them. I was, however, thrilled that the Carrington Gardens nests had been left undisturbed by staff and homeowners.

“Carrington Gardens is a fantastic best-practice example of house builders safeguarding the interests of wildlife.”

House martins are tiny birds - slightly smaller than house sparrows. They have a slightly forked tail and have a cheerful twittering call note.

They are not yet rare but they are in serious decline for various reasons - for instance muddy sites are scarcer.

Mr Wright said during his visit to Carrington Gardens, he got talking to the Manager, Susan Nash, who explained about other wildlife in the area.

Mr Wright added: “She went on to explain that flocks of goldfinches were colourful autumn visitors to the seed heads on a field full of thistles adjacent to the development.

“These thistles are cut back annually, but, at the request of homeowners, this process is now delayed until after the birds have left. Naturally, this news made me even more delighted! 

“In essence, Carrington Gardens is an attractive development located next to an unofficial nature reserve.”

Sue Nash, Manager, said: “Here at Carrington Gardens, we try our best to sustain the natural wildlife in the lovely environment we live in.

“This wildlife was here before the development was built, so we’re conscious of trying to encourage them to stay local to the area.

“As well as the birds, we also have deer locally and also ducks from the pond take a walk around the development.

“The homeowners love to see the wildlife and Carrington Gardens is a lovely, peaceful area where nature and homeowners live side by side.”

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