SWLEcage - By Douglas Whitbread
An animal lover has built an amazing miniature wildlife village in his back garden - complete with an infinity pool and a Christmas cabin for SQUIRRELS.
Paul Everitt, 38, has spent 18 months painstakingly creating the incredible climbing frame which has 1.5m high platforms and is connected with a series of bridges.
The self-styled solo adventurer couldn't go abroad during lockdown so he built his “squirrel superstructure” so he could be more in touch with the wildlife at his home.
Paul used scrap bits of wood to make an infinity pool and a Christmas log cabin for the squirrels and a landing pad for pigeons, complete with a letter 'P' to land on.
It even has a tower, which Paul dubbed “The Swingers Club”, with an infinity pool made of Perspex, and a “Corn Tosser” feeding station that spins the squirrels around.
As well as the ten squirrels that visit daily, Paul has seen eight foxes and a badger, as well as numerous birds on his animal-friendly structure.
He said: “Prior to covid, I would travel a lot – I tended to do long journeys, kayaking in Alaska, Finland and Sweden, or cycling across continents.
“I lived in Canada for a bit, and I miss that wilderness as I’m used to bears and wolves coming up to me.
“With Covid hitting, I needed a project to take my mind off not being able to do that.
“It relaxes me as I don’t have a TV, so I just sit and watch the wildlife – it’s just a nice little hub."
Paul said work started on the raised structure after he bought a three-bedroom bungalow in Grimsby, Lincs., and began to clear its overgrown garden.
He said: “A house popped up in Grimsby, it was a bit of a steal, and I thought I’d work on that, with my background in plumbing and plastering.
“But I couldn’t help but notice there was an abundance of squirrels around in the back garden.
“The back garden was over run as it had been left to ruin and nature had taken it back.
Paul said he started making his rope-bridged animal kingdom by creating a “squirrel superstructure”.
He said: “I built the super structure – it’s a long platform about a meter and half off the ground.
“I then built a slide that went down to a Perspex box, which was full of nuts and a rope swing for them to go on.
“Then I build the tower, which is the “Swingers Club”, because it has two swings on it, and I thought something else that would be appropriate for the club would be an infinity pool.
“So I built them a pespex swimming pool, which they do use in the summertime, and in winter, they do drink from it.
Paul also built them a feeding station, which he has called the “corn tosser”, as it spins the little critters around when they go to eat.
He said: “it’s a stick on a pivot and swings around, and when they over balance it, it spins them around.
He added: “It’s harmless fun, no squirrels were ever harmed.
“I built them that log cabin and made it Christmas themed for it – a bit of festive joy.”
Paul said that the manual work required for the project allowed him to express his creativity during Lockdown.
He said: “I’m very hands on – I always built my own modes of transport – and I feel like it’s an important part of my life, building and creating.
“All the materials I built the squirrel sanctuary from are scraps."
ENDS.
