bird box resolutions ..

Providing artificial sites for hole nesting birds is one of the easiest ways to help our feathered friends.

Juvenile tawny owl in nest box

I've been nest box making since childhood and here I am, still at it.

Bird nesting boxes are great gifts and can be bought reasonably cheaply.

• Site them away from where birds are fed - to avoid conflict when birds attempt to set up a breeding territory that is frequently visited by competitors. 
• Make sure that the box can be opened in order to clean it out in the winter.
• If cats are present, site the box above the height at which the cats can reach.

Then  sit back and watch the fun!!

I try and use recycled materials wherever I can. Mix together warped wood and my rudimentary carpentry skills ... and the result is frequently something quite eccentric. Fortunately, birds don't seem to mind.

Juvenile tree sparrow 

In 2017 I had 42 nest boxes sited in the garden. They ranged from small boxes with 25mm (1") entrance holes through to whoppers big enough for tawny owls.

I'd over-provided nest boxes in some parts of the garden so that blue and great tits couldn't possibly occupy all and to give choosey birds like tree sparrows choice. This inevitably meant that some boxes wouldn't be used.

18 boxes had been occupied in 2016 but with scant records of how many had been successful. In 2017, 16 were occupied and 64 young were ringed.  Tawny owl, tree sparrow, stock dove and wren used the boxes as well as the usual blue and great tits.

For people who like tables: 

#1	GRETI	5 ringed
#3	BLUTI	9 ringed
#4	GRETI	-	7 dead eggs
Woodcrete box	BLUTI	-	2 dead eggs 1 dead young
#10	BLUTI	8 ringed
#11	GRET!	-	1 dead egg
#13	BLUTI	6 ringed
#16	STOCK	2 eggs	nest unsuccessful
#17	BLUTI	5 ringed
#20	BLUTI	6 ringed
#30	BLUTI	8 ringed
#32	GRETI	3 ringed
#34 Colony box 1st brood	TRESP	4 ringed
#34 Colony box 2nd brood	TRESP	2 ringed	3 young
#35	WREN	5 ringed
#37	TAWOW	1 ringed
#42	GRETI	-
Ground nest	ROBIN		3 eggs predated
Ground nest	MALLA		10 eggs predated
	6 species attracted to boxes	64 ringed

The abbreviations are BTO ones.

I was really pleased to have a box adopted and used by tawnies even though it faced onto the meadow into which we'd introduced harvest mice. Snack-sized fun. I'm told that once tawnies have bred successfully, there is a good chance that they will return. I certainly hope so as we all loved watching the fluffy chick after it had left the nest box.

I had placed what was intended to be a colony nesting box for house sparrows on the gable above the kitchen door. House sparrows showed no interest whatsoever - but the box (in four des res apartments) was used to raise two broods of tree sparrows - seven young in total. When we set the mist nets up on the adjacent farm, imagine the overwhelming sense of parental pride when the first birds we caught were ones we'd previously ringed as babies in the nest box above the kitchen door.. Come to daddy!!

Examples of starling and little owl nest boxes ready for siting

Stock doves laid in one of the larger boxes but the eggs were taken by a predator. Perhaps a magpie or a squirrel? Adult birds have been seen around the box again this week, so fingers are crossed that young can be raised successfully this year. Stock dove nests become filled with their faeces and so are especially fragrant in the summer.  I've been detailed to check stock dove nests as a penance for having a fondness for these sweet little big-eyed pigeons.

Now is the time for me to check boxes, to clean them out or repair. If boxes aren't used in successive years I move them, so several will be re-sited.

2017 was my most successful year in terms of the numbers of species using boxes and the evidence of young that were successfully reared.

In 2018, I am attempting to attract little owls and starlings to use garden nesting boxes. Both species are in decline.

Little owls really are little - no bigger than a starling. They are said to stomp around wet ground at dawn and dusk hunting earthworms. A BTO study on their diet concluded that Little Owls favoured mice, voles and large invertebrates.  This owl's numbers are declining but they get no protection as they are an introduced species.  Their eye stripe gives them a furious appearance at times. The little owl box design is more complicated than is usual as the birds like to travel in a tunnel with a 70mm entrance to the inner compartment which must have little light penetration. The box must also have a door that allows the checking of contents and access to the young for ringing. Thanks to Rob Hoare for sharing the design with me. We know that little owls bred successfully on the neighbouring farm last year and its only an avian hop, skip and jump to our place.

Little owl boxes are also potentially bespoke grey squirrel residences. I have been told that stinking ferret bedding can be placed in the bottom of the box as little owls like a bed and don't have a sense of smell. Squirrels do - and live in fear of ferrets, so their bedding is a great deterrent. I have some of the most-noxious vintage ordered.

We see once-common starlings infrequently - a measure of their decline. We haven't had any starlings on our lawn. In our first garden (late seventies) I counted 30 on the small patch of lawn there.  The graph (from the BTO website) tells the sorry story. I recall a day in the summer last summer when I placed live mealworms in a feeder. Quite how so many starlings found these and so quickly I can't imagine. The subsequent frenzy has only been exceeded during the excesses of Black Friday. So, we know they're around.

Starling boxes are medium size and have 45 mm entrance holes. Starlings will happily nest near to each other so I'm hoping to find a quiet part of the garden where a little group of them can breed.

In addition to the boxes, I'm hoping to site shelves within some covered outdoor parts of the building with the hope of attracting house martins or swallows. These 'outdoor parts' coincide with the porch and covered areas of my parents' annex. I feel sure they'll understand ..

Perhaps putting up a box could be a New Year's resolution? Bird nest box week falls in the week of Valentines Day - that's plenty of notice. What better gift for the love in your life..?