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Parkerville wildlife warrior Simon Cherriman can now add published author to his list of accolades after he recently released his first book, Hollowed Out?
The passionate environmental activist has been educating people on the benefits of wildlife nest boxes for years and has now collated his knowledge and expertise into a beautiful picture book that is both informative and stunning to look at.
“I wrote the book in response to requests for information by people on how they could build and maintain their own nesting boxes,” he said.
“I feel there’s a lot of reinventing the wheel going on and this has lead to a negative view that they are a waste of time as a lot of pests get into them.
“The idea was to set the record straight and give some of the information I have collected over the last 20 years.”
Mr Cherriman’s passion for nest boxes began as a 10 year old when he found a possum living in the roof of his house.
After it was removed, he made a nesting box for it to stay safe and was then asked to make more for peoples’ back yards.
He says the design and concept has developed a lot since then but the premise is still the same.
“It’s been a very well used thing all over the world,” he said.
“I’ve introduced the basic concept which stems from North America and Europe and I’ve explored and tried to evolve that concept for the south west of WA.”
Natural tree hollows take centuries to form, Mr Cherriman says, and if trees are cut down or destroyed by bush fire, it can have devastating impacts on the mammals, birds and insects that use them.
Hollowed Out? contains more than 500 colour photographs, largely taken by Mr Cherriman, who ran a crowd funding campaign to raise enough money to get the book published.
The first print run sold out two days after its release and the book can be bought online from Mr Cherriman’s website, or from the Mundaring Visitor’s Centre.
By Rebecca Peppiatt
