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Post by pete11 on Mar 6, 2021 17:56:27 GMT
There are also a fair few gnarly old trees around, with all sorts of nooks and crannies in them, plus an assortment of roof gables in varying states of repair. Some years ago a pair nested in the corner of next door's roof gable right where the roof apex starts at the corner of the house. I could see them perching on the telephone cable just next to it coming and going. So yes, no doubt they have quite a few options around the place. If they don't choose my box they don't know what's good for them
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Post by pete11 on Mar 8, 2021 11:52:42 GMT
Mildly exciting short-lived moment yesterday (7th) when my local Blue Tit pair stopped by my nestbox. I saw them flitting about the birch tree getting closer & closer to the box until finally what I'm guessing is the male hopped up to the entrace hole and had a few looks in, then withdrew to a branch nearby, then straight back to the hole, poked his head in a few more times, then the same thing again, looking for all the world as if he was about to enter the box....but then fluttered off... then the female hopped onto the entrance hole herself for the briefest of moments before taking off again to follow the male. That's a lot of words to describe only about 30s of activity
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Post by matt on Mar 8, 2021 12:26:25 GMT
Any visit is a good visit, Pete!
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Post by karenupnorth on Mar 8, 2021 14:07:15 GMT
Sounds much the same as my pair, a brief look to make sure all is well, check that no other bird as been about
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Post by pete11 on Mar 10, 2021 15:10:37 GMT
Keep seeing the same BT pair spending a fair amount of time fussing about at the top of the pollarded trunk of a neighbour's tree, right where new branches have sprouted over recent years. Whenever they stop off to peek inside my box, they seem to be en route to that tree... and often don't stop at my box at all. I'm starting to suspect they might have found a prime little crevice or hole round the back of the tree out of my sight. Of course it could just be there's just a plentiful supply of bugs or other food somewhere there.... but it makes me wonder also if they've decided that my box is just some elaborate human-designed garden feeder that never seems to have any food in it!
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Post by matt on Mar 10, 2021 15:50:15 GMT
Time to get the chainsaw out, Pete
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Post by petesbox on Mar 10, 2021 16:01:33 GMT
HeHe Nice one Matt.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 17, 2021 12:40:25 GMT
Hmm well this morning I saw what looked to be the female BT of my local pair perch on a neighbour’s tree and start tugging and pulling at some dried grassy material that was hanging there. Meanwhile my box has had practically zero interest from the BTs over the past week or so. Pretty sure what I’ve seen is nesting material being gathered... to be taken to somewhere I know not where, other than it definitely not being my box A Starling has grabbed similar stuff from my garden this morning too. The only dead cert nesting happening anywhere near me is the same pair of blackbirds that nested in next door’s cypress tree last year. They’ve been coming and going there with material these last few days. I wonder what I can do to improve my nest box for next year? The silver birch it’s located in at the moment is a fairly bendy one that does sway a fair bit in strong wind. Wonder if that’s a contributing factor.
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Post by petesbox on Mar 17, 2021 13:05:05 GMT
It could still happen for you this year you might get a pair of late nester's, if it does'nt happen you could try and site the box in a different place. Its all trial and error when siting the box i went years without any nests until i started experimenting with different sites, and remember the box does'nt need to be high up mine is about 5-6 foot off the ground.
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Post by matt on Mar 17, 2021 13:20:50 GMT
It's frustrating, Pete, and I've been there myself for the past two years! It is especially annoying when you see your resident bluetit carrying nesting material somewhere else, but the fact is that each male covers quite a large area (in urban garden terms), and lots of people put up nest boxes these days. I'm pretty sure my local male covers at least 5-10 gardens around me, and I caught him using a nestbox in my opposite neighbour's garden last year The question about how to improve your chances is one we ask ourselves on here a lot. I spent a bit of time researching (as best I could) after my latest disappointment last year, and there are actually some research papers on this exact topic - and specific to bluetits, as well. Although I think box location is probably the biggest single factor, there was a study I read that compared a few designs on nest box spread out in a woods. The upshot of that was that, all else being equal (it rarely is), bluetits prefer prefer a light box (window or lights), a slightly deeper box than RSPB recommends (I think it was 19cm from the hole vs 12cm), and prefer woodcrete (a kind of wood concrete) over wood. Putting more boxes up doesn't help, and might even make matters worse (bluetits were more likely to avoid a box with others nearby, even if they were empty - potential competition?). I have followed most of that advice for this year (fewer boxes, concrete, deeper), but since I don't have a nest yet either (yet!) I can't say that it has worked. Your other option is to target other species as well - e.g. sparrows and starlings, which will nest in boxes (sometimes), and also nest in boxes near other sparrows/starlings (unlike bluetits). I have tried that this year, and have had some interest from both sparrows and starlings, but no nest yet. Having said all that, probably the most effective way to make sure that your box is used would be to remove all of your neighbours' nest boxes within a 100 yard radius of your garden Oh - and be lucky! Don't give up on this year though - you might get another female belonging to the same male, or a late nest, as Pete says.
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Post by petesbox on Mar 17, 2021 14:34:48 GMT
Hole depth is an interesting one the boxes i bought years ago and still use today (my GT box) had a depth of about 180mm from the bottom of the hole to the floor, they was up for about two year with that depth and no takers, i remember BT's and GT's looking in the box but hardly any entries so my thinking was is it to deep, so i made my own front panel with a depth from the bottom of the hole to the floor about 125mm - 130mm and i got more entries not necessarily nests being built but definatly more entries. I've used that hole to floor depth for a lot of years now and the GT's seem to like it, i cant say much about BT's cos i hav'nt had much success with them. Its an interesting subject though.
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Post by matt on Mar 17, 2021 14:53:00 GMT
Yeah the whole thing (no pun intended!) is interesting, and I'm not sure how much credence we can give the various studies. That is one of the stats that jumped out at me from one that I read, where they had actually put boxes with different hole depths around and they seemed to favour the deeper ones. Truth is that in nature they will nest in all sorts of nooks can crannies I guess, and as we all know they are more than happy in most of the standard wooden models. I'm sure the single most important thing is location/position - that could include the fact that they prefer a neighbour's garden fulls top, for better food or whatever. The nest box "my" birds used last year was a very old (knackered), small wooden box mounted on a shed in a neighbour's garden about 1.8m high, mounted very openly and just facing the lawn.. By rights my boxes should have ticked all the boxes, but the birds weren't having it!
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Post by WildlifePaul on Mar 17, 2021 14:55:13 GMT
Weird you point that out Pete, Because my first camera box had a 17cm gap from base to hole and it didn't get a sniff of interest! I remember being p*ssed off because I did pay alot for it, once I switched to another box we had success! I went years without a nest here and only had the 1 box back then. 12cm's from base to hole seems to work well for the blue tits here
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Post by petesbox on Mar 17, 2021 15:21:03 GMT
I think it begs the question for instance would two female BT's have different preferences of nest site and hole depth, or do they take just what they can get.
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Post by matt on Mar 17, 2021 15:24:24 GMT
It could depend on a lot of things - e.g. what kind of predators are around, where the box is located (deeper hole if it gets a lot of sun through?) etc Probably too many things going on for us to ever truly understand it! You can try your best to do everything right, and they'll still choose an old teapot in your neighbour's shed
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Post by petesbox on Mar 17, 2021 15:31:33 GMT
Very true Matt, very true, i think the only thing we can do is attract them to our gardens with food and hope they choose our boxes.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 17, 2021 16:18:45 GMT
Interesting stuff - thanks chaps. I have a lot of cats doing the rounds, hence my decision to site my box about 3m up the tree. That tree is really my only option for any kind of height. If I placed the box on the side of our very short/modest shed I think the cats would be a huge threat. There are grey squirrels, too - they zoom about through the branches of our tree and neighbouring trees. And parakeets (ring-necked pests) Plus a whole posse of magpies that appear on a regular basis. It’s pretty busy!
The only species I know have nested in my garden previously are blackbirds, robins & dunnocks. As I said earlier,the blackbirds are back this year in next door’s cypress.
So the BT idea was always going to be a gamble I guess.
I don’t know the exact dimensions of my box from hole to floor but it’s a fair old way...much deeper than the old box I had. The hole is 32mm which so I’ve read is on the large size for BTs... no metal plate either.
I saw a PHD paper online recently by someone at Imperial College listing stats for 50 or so boxes in oak woodland- pretty sure woodcrete featured there as the favoured material.
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Post by matt on Mar 17, 2021 16:33:52 GMT
I think I have read that paper too, Pete! It's what got me experiementing with a kind of concrete box this year (concrete made with perlite, so good insulation). Parakeets will apparently use a nest box! How about that for a backup plan?
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Post by petesbox on Mar 17, 2021 16:41:17 GMT
32mm hole size is good for BT's, GT's, and sparrows so your ok there, if you dont get woodpeckers in your area then no need for a metal plate.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 17, 2021 22:38:23 GMT
matt there are too many parakeets already without me encouraging them to breed more!
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Post by pete11 on Mar 17, 2021 22:41:54 GMT
Imperial College have an ongoing BT observation project it seems- they’ve been monitoring a whole load of boxes at their Silwood Park campus since the early 2000s by the looks of things.
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Post by pete11 on Mar 26, 2021 16:45:50 GMT
Enjoying seeing all the clips posted by others on this forum lucky enough to have nests being built. Still no such luck here. Since my last post I’ve had plenty of heads popping thru the entrance hole... BT, GT plus a couple of days ago a starling made a concerted attempt but 32mm was just a bit too narrow But alas, that’s all! Additional garden sightings include blackcap and great-spotted woodpecker. Do BTs take bribes, anyone?
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Post by matt on Mar 26, 2021 16:57:07 GMT
Never say never, Pete - there's quite a few of us in the same position at the moment! Hopefully things will happen for all of us soon.. Interesting that you have a keen starling, perhaps that is something you can target next year?
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Post by pete11 on Mar 26, 2021 18:03:08 GMT
Yes matt it did cross my mind about targeting the starling. Lots round here and usually at least one pair nesting in a roof nearby. Do they need 45mm hole? I’m not planning on racing up a ladder with a hole saw but pondering options for next year.
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Post by matt on Mar 26, 2021 18:07:37 GMT
I’m not planning on racing up a ladder with a hole saw but pondering options for next year. No, but you could! Although widening existing holes with a hole saw can be a bit tricky (not impossible). General recommendation seems to be 45mm, yes, and I think somewhat bigger inside than a typical bluetit box (14cm+). I wish I was telling you that from experience, but my starling boxes are sitting sadly unused!
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