Good luck getting that on the wall, the sparrow terraces nearly killed me. Should have been a 2 man job I think.
Yes I clean all my boxes every year, sometimes twice if the mice have been in there. Mice wee stinks and they leave loads of fleas behind. I love doing it as you get to examine the nests and see what else has been in there too.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I have a guy coming to fix my roof shortly, so I would ask him to put the swift boxes up the wall while he is there. As it's way up my house wall, I wouldn't think it likely I'll be cleaning them (I don't have long ladders). Hopefully, as it's so far up, mice wouldn't be a problem, though bird parasites and dead chicks would be (?!). Replies from research emails coming today say that swifts don't like to nest on their own, but much prefer colonies, so it's a bit pointless putting up one box. The more the merrier, apparently. Interesting.
I'm wondering about the bats too. I have seen none in the garden in six years.
I'm wondering about the bats too. I have seen none in the garden in six years.
If you're in a town and there's lots of street lighting and night time traffic and noise, there won't be many bats about. They like the dark to be dark.
My point with the swallows etc was that they are quite adaptable - if you provide reasonably commodious accommodation, they will use it if they are around.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I've seen bats hunting moths around the street lights here so they're not all photophobic.
Can you get more then one swift box up then maybe convince a neighbour or 2 to do the same once they colony gets going?
In terms of maintenance I think swift nests are quite basic so probably don't need cleaning out every year. They have to find all the nesting materal while flying so it might even save them time to have the base from the old nest left in there. I've cleaned out one tit box though that had a nest of unhatched eggs in the base, another nest on top of that with one unhatched egg, a dead chick tangled in nest fibers and a bumblebee nest in with it. All from the same year. I'd still rather deal with that than the mice nests though even if they are cute.
That was in the autumn so I left them to it for the winter and cleaned it out again in the spring.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
WE, my first thought, when I found the boxes was, yes, let's get the neighbourhood on board. I have a habit of getting over-enthusiastic about local wildlife projects, so I think I'll put up some and if they work, get others on board. It's best to have a bit of good data before trying to convince others to shell out...
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My point with the swallows etc was that they are quite adaptable - if you provide reasonably commodious accommodation, they will use it if they are around.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”