Rail company installs nest boxes at nine of its stations including Grimsby and Cleethorpes

                                                            

Bring on the birds and bats - newly-installed nestbox at one of the stations

A TOTAL of 50 of bird and bat boxes have been  installed at nine TransPennine Express railway stations to provide new nesting habitat.

The station to benefit are at: Cleethorpes, Grimsby Town, Barnetby, Scunthorpe,Yarm, Northallerton, Thirsk, Hull and Stalybridge.

The initiative aims to grow biodiversity at these stations.

Different types of boxes have been used to encourage various species, including a variety of bat species as well as birds such as Robins, Blackbirds, Wrens, Pied Wagtails, Swallows and Swifts.

Explains TPE environment officer Steve Gilder: "We are committed to building a more sustainable railway, and this is just one of many of our projects that focus on biodiversity.

"With a lack of natural habitat space across many of our stations, bird and bat boxes are a simple way to provide additional places for them and we look forward to monitoring their use over the coming months."

He continues: "We are planning to install more bat and bird boxes in the future along with several other biodiversity improvements."

Last year, the train operator carried out several  improvements across its stations to benefit wildlife, including pollinator-friendly station planter upgrades, bug hotels and a  landscape planting scheme at Thirsk.