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bird box
Jess is in the Garden
Posts: 1,022
It's about 1.8m up from the ground, north facing, very protected with a bambooo growing over the opening and a mature ceanotus arching over it.
Crab apple in front which birds often hop onto.
Many blue tits, sparrows, robins and wrens in our garden.
It's a box with a hole, which I think is for blue tits...only put it up early March - any chance there'll be takers this year?
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I read somewhere that you should leave a tit box in place for 3 springs before giving up and moving it - so it's early days yet I saw bluetits inspecting one of ours a few years ago, but haven't seen anything more exciting yet
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
3 springs?!!! What are they waiting for, I wonder!
I keep adding new home-made boxes each year with various hole sizes suitable for different birds. Most don't seem to get regularly nested in, but they could be used for overnight roosting and I'd be none the wiser, so they'll all stay in position. I think territorialism is the main reason - many birds simply won't tolerate another nesting pair in their area. I know birds don't like nesting in boxes anywhere near bird tables or other feeding stations.
The very first time i had a box the blue tits inspected it within minutes of putting it up and some nested successfully first year. This was 30 years ago. More recently I have had less luck. It's the same box incredibly now situated in it's 4th garden!!
I pit this tit box up 2 years ago, and yesterday I photographed it being used for the first time. Its about 2 metre high..
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I think you probably need to wait at least a couple of years before you can be sure there'll be no residents! As Bob has already said, some birds are definitely territorial and this will make a difference. The size of the entry-hole will dictate to some extent which species will be interested. I think it's probably just as important to make sure that the site doesn't get direct sunlight, & isn't exposed to driving rain & cold winds. Probably a good idea to make sure that any rainwater which falls on to the box won't drip down over the side with the access hole - so a box with a sloping "roof" & the box itself then fixed at a slight downward angle would probably be best.
Thanks all - mine has a sloping roof. Still no birds in it though but possibly OH hammering and generally pottering to and fro from his adored shed isn't helping...
Lovely photos Lead! Envious? MOI??
Hi Jess, i put my box up a few years ago in spring , it was not used the first year as i think birds check out nesting sites before spring. It has been used every year since by blue tits apart from last year, they did come and check it out but didn't use it for nesting. I think that could be because i had a family of sparrow feeding in my garden and as my garden is quite small the blue tits were not happy with all the sparrows close to thier nesting site. I still have the sparrow family and have seen the blue tits fighting with them at the bird feeders. they have been going in the nest box but not sure if they will stay! Do you feed the birds in your garden? If so are the feeders near your nest box?
LeadF what a beautiful photo! Who needs TV when you can watch that! The siting of bird boxes is very important too. Yours has a bit of protection for the birds going in and out and lots of smaller birds need that. Robins like to go through a bit of cover to get to their nests. I've heard the concrete ones are very successful as they don't get wet inside. Has anyone tried these?
Aliesh I'd have thought you wouldn't have the boxes too close to the feeders because of disturbance from other birds and predators but I expect it also depends on your location and what bird visitors you have.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...