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First Time Bird Box Tenants

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  • matt_fendermatt_fender Posts: 169
    A wren is unusual @purplerallim - well done! Is it an open fronted/"robin style" box? How big is the opening, and how high off the ground? Sorry for all the questions but I am always interested in the details of nest boxes that work, especially with one of the less common nestbox species!
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    edited May 2019
    It is a blue tit box on a Hawthorne tree 7 foot off the ground, facing north (away from winds and the heat) there are two trees with boxes about 12 foot apart and it's the other one that has had the most attention. There is a clear path to the entrance,  but tree limbs nearby to give cover. Hope this info is of interest @matt_fender. 😁

    It raining cats and dogs so a bit tatty but here is a photo 

  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    In the top photo the dark green is the other tree limb covered in ivy, at fence hight that is where the nest was two years ago.🙂
  • matt_fendermatt_fender Posts: 169
    Thanks @purplerallim, most interesting. Good luck with the nest!
  • parkgatemanparkgateman Posts: 50
    I put a bird box up about 5 years ago for tits. Never had any luck. Last spring I decided to take it down and make the hole bigger , so other birds could use it. I got it down , took it in my shed , put an end mill in the drill chuck and proceeded to enlarge the hole . I then turned it upside and started banging it to remove the sawdust. Goodness , after the second thump , out came 2 blue tit chicks. I quickly picked them up as carefully as I could , and put them back in the now larger hole. All this had only taken me a few minutes. As quick as I could I screwed the bird box back in its original position. I then got a chair and sat across the other side of the garden ,praying that the parents would not desert the nest. Luckily , within a few minutes they were back ,and carried on as if nothing had happened. The chicks eventually grew and left. Thank god. 
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Wrens will often choose a nest box as a communal roost in the colder months:
    I'm sure there was also something on one of the 'Springwatch' or similarly named seasonal programmes a year or so back..
    Just found it:
    https://www.facebook.com/BBCSpringwatch/videos/2097455057000753/
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    I had a communal nest of wrens in a hanging basket that had been left up. They made a ball shaped nest with a small opening amongst the dead fuchsia.
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