A tangled mass of hawthorn branches has become a home for starlings at a South Gloucestershire community farm.

Poor weather meant the branches were left in a pile after being cut from a hedge during a restoration project at Grimsbury Farm, in Kingswood.

Volunteers noticed a lot of birds visiting because of the rich insect life in the wood.

They decided to keep the branches together when they moved them to create a man-made roosting site.

"I'd never heard of building a starling roost but when we saw the numbers of birds that were gathering we thought we would give it a go," said Katherine Kearns, community landscape officer for South Gloucestershire Council.

"We had to move the original pile, because it was taking up a lot of space in our old orchard, but we hope the new roost will benefit resident badgers and hedgehogs as well."

Starling numbers have declined and a lot of feeding and roosting sites have been lost because they tend to stay clear of buildings.

The roost also provides somewhere for the starlings to escape from a resident pair of sparrowhawks.

Grimsbury Farm, run by South Gloucestershire Council, is open every day of the year.