I have a couple of sparrow terrace nest boxes under the guttering of my house, I saw that this summer one of them was occupied. You can see both boxes in this photo (the second box is at the far end of the guttering)...
Yesterday I climbed up to clean them out and this is what I found when opening one of them up. Looks like a complete nest in one section, and partial nests in the other two...
Whilst I was up there I decided to install an anchor in the house wall to tie the ladders to, to stop them moving when using them..
This week is National Nest Box Week so if you've been putting off your nest box spring cleaning or even planning to put up new boxes then there's no better time. There's lots of information on the website about the best way to provide a nest box for your local birds. I've got a blue tit box to put up in a tree and I've ordered a wren roundhouse to fit into my bay tree. I might even move the sparrow terrace to a better location if weather and time permits. If anyone else is planning anything please feel free to share.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Little males chasing after little females shouting “come back, I want to talk to you”. 😁
That sounds like the kind of euphemism parents use when telling the weans about the birds and the bees... Those dunnocks are horny wee beggars.
The shirty female blackbird is giving all the other females a hard time here. She's a right bint. There was a little blue tit inspecting a bird box I put up a while ago. I'm not convinced it'll get used though. It's hard to find suitable locations in my garden for nesting birds, just because of the site, but it's nice watching them.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Last summer my mother had bees nesting in the tit box I fitted to her garage, which I think were tree bumble bees..
Here's the male bees waiting for the females to emerge..
I recently took the nestbox down to clean it, but inside wasn't what I expected to see. Either the bees made this nest of they took over a previous bird nest...
Well nestbox week might have to be next week instead. I'm still not braving it up a ladder. These three are ready to go up (or back up in the case of the wooden one which has had a year off while they build the house next door).
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Lovely pix @LeadFarmer. I had bees using the hedgehog house and they basically just used the bedding that was in it - hay mostly. It didn't look like that typical 'nest' we all think of when we think of nesting bees. The wasps that used the bee box last year made a beautiful one though. I posted it somewhere on the forum - can't remember where though. @wild edges, do you add any bedding when you put the boxes up, or do you leave it all up to the potential residents? I saw that you said you'd added some woodchips on an earlier post, and I've wondered if I should do something like that too. I've hung up the lovely soft seedheads from an early clematis that I kept last year. They're under the box in a little half coconut shell with some mesh over the front so it doesn't all blow away. There was a little blue tit taking a good look earlier today. Fingers crossed something decides it's worth a punt.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The woodchip is supposed to make it better for the birds to roost over the winter. It gives them an insulating layer under their feet. It's probably not so crucial in wooden boxes but the woodcrete ones I use are much colder to the touch. It's not needed for nesting so if you put a box up in the spring then you probably don't need to bother. I've seen sparrows empty every scrap of woodchip out of a box so they obviously didn't care for it. One cold winter though I had a box that was used by multiple roosting wrens and they made a right mess in there so I was glad of the woodchip which made it much easier to clean out.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I cleaned out the final bird boxes yesterday and helped my dad clean out his sparrow terraces. Nothing too exciting in the boxes but all had old nests which is good. The starling box had an old wasp nest and was also stuffed with bunches of ivy berries that something had cached in there. It's obviously a popular box though so I'll probably get another one of these put up next spring.
The sparrow terraces were interesting though. They're three-chamber cedar boxes that are mounted up under the eaves of the house. One had no nests but was obviously used for roosting. It needed a good clean out but the only resident was a hibernating butterfly that I managed not to disturb. The other terrace is right next to it and had three old nests in there. The last chamber contained the largest spider I've ever seen and it wasn't too happy about being disturbed. I don't mind spiders but not when I'm up a tall ladder and its only escape route is up my sleeve I persuaded it to wait under the box while I cleaned up and it returned unharmed to make a new web.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Posts
Yesterday I climbed up to clean them out and this is what I found when opening one of them up. Looks like a complete nest in one section, and partial nests in the other two...
Whilst I was up there I decided to install an anchor in the house wall to tie the ladders to, to stop them moving when using them..
Those dunnocks are horny wee beggars.
The shirty female blackbird is giving all the other females a hard time here. She's a right bint.
There was a little blue tit inspecting a bird box I put up a while ago. I'm not convinced it'll get used though. It's hard to find suitable locations in my garden for nesting birds, just because of the site, but it's nice watching them.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Here's the male bees waiting for the females to emerge..
I recently took the nestbox down to clean it, but inside wasn't what I expected to see. Either the bees made this nest of they took over a previous bird nest...
@wild edges, do you add any bedding when you put the boxes up, or do you leave it all up to the potential residents? I saw that you said you'd added some woodchips on an earlier post, and I've wondered if I should do something like that too.
I've hung up the lovely soft seedheads from an early clematis that I kept last year. They're under the box in a little half coconut shell with some mesh over the front so it doesn't all blow away. There was a little blue tit taking a good look earlier today. Fingers crossed something decides it's worth a punt.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...