Is it too late for bluetits to build a nest?

davemorton

House I moved into has a few bird boxes around the garden. One or two of them have old nests in, would I be better off moving the old nests out to try to attract birds, or will they recycle other birds nests??

ljonski

my neighbour tells me it is better to get rid of old nests and give the boxes a bit of a clean

carebearbecky

Whilst that is true, the breeding season has already started so please be careful about cleaning out nest boxes - it's usually best to do this December/January time.

So keep an eye on the boxes for a while before you do clear them. Make sure there is nothing using the old nests first. It's an excuse to make a flask of tea and get comfy and watch the comings and goings

Isis_Black

hahaha i never had to put a bird house out in the garden as my house has been a nesting place for a pair of house martins for the past 4 years or so :-)
lovely to see them return every year, they have been back for about 2 months now :-) im just waiting to hear the noise of babies again, they also seem to have a couple of broods every year, then my hedge in the summer is packed with them before they go off to africa :-)

i would love to get a camera up there so i can see what goes on lol

were in the process this year of completely changing the garden, getting rid of all the grass, putting in a pond and lots of planting cant wait till its all done but its going to be a very long process

mandrose

Another update - the nest building took off yesterday and all looks very neat apart from a hole in the middle! Last night we had great excitement when one took up residence and slept there until the early hours, in fact we turned off the tv at about midnight as felt we were spying and intruding on privacy!

Today has been fairly quiet, a bit more bedding brought in but nothing spectacular - its now 8.40pm and the box is still empty, so looks like it will remain that way tonight.

One thing that has happened today is the female (I'm presuming here!) has pecked at the bottom of the nesting box whenever visiting. She sounds like a little woodpecker! I've tried googling but cannot find out why she is doing this! Does anyone know why?

lawrie28

I put a bird box up over a year ago and the most I can see is some twigs etc. on its roof. The only place I have of reasonable height though is in a confir tree at about 10 foot up. There are no branches below, and though is south facing it is shaded by the tree. maybe this year....

I also had a butterfly box, which we got nowhere with, and as we are growing, the less catterpillar the better, so have adapted this into another birdbox, just need somewhere to put it now. It would suit a larger bird as has a bigger opening, whereas the origional box just has a small round hole.

As well as having camera's that send feed to a tv, you can also get them with a webcam inside. I use a photography forum and one of the guys on there has one, which he has just started again. The link is here:
http://86.27.59.44:8080/

But try not to leave it streaming all day is it uploads more data, just check in and out as and when.

mandrose

Update - nest building frenzy has been happening all week and we now have a nesting box full and cosy looking! Our stripped string, cat fur and feathers have now been taken in and she is sleeping in there every night. Hoping eggs will be laid soon!

mandrose

The first egg has been laid! Now waiting to see how many others join it! :j