Nest boxes, bird etc

[smallblueplanet]

Just wondered what other 'nest boxes' peeps have around their house/garden/allotment and what their success rate is? Best moment?

Last year we (well okay the hired help!) put up a pair of martin boxes under the house eaves. To our great delight they were occupied and a family of martins was raised - fabulous! (We had an idea martins might nest because our nextdoor neighbours had a real nest in their eaves).

Not had a lot of success with other bird boxes as we don't have enough cover in our garden yet.

[andrewo]

I have one against a south facing wall and it has never been used, thanks to the glut of cats in the neighbourhood, we have two robins in a hedge though.

[nick the grief]

We had robins nest in a bag of prunings that I forgot to take to the tip !!! when I went to move them there were 4 chicks in there so it had to wait a wile longer!

You don't need a lot of cover SBP, stick some boxes up for blue tits (not in full sun as it gets too hot) & they'll soon move in. Robins will soon make use of open fronted nestboxes. I've even know spotted fly catchers to nest in hanging baskets !!

One thing you can put up is a sparrow house as most people have sealed the roof space off where these used to breed & roost hence the decline in house sparrows. We get a couple of pairs nest in out roof most years. I have thought of setting up a web-cam but till now I haven't had the broadband connection.

[smallblueplanet]

Ahh Nick we have a glut of sparrows...they have no problem getting in our eaves!!! and next door has an interesting chicken wire contraption to protect them from the sparrowhawk (that sometimes sits on our fence) getting them out the honeysuckle!!!

We've got some boxes up now - and previously had some birds, including a pair of blackbirds, that I've now addicted to sultanas, nesting when we moved into this place. But we had to chop down the clematis montana housing the blue tits that was destroying the flat roof, and move another that the blackies were in.

I'll watch out for the spotted fly's as I'm sure the big beech trees opposite had some last year.

[nick the grief]

The Black birds nest in my Montana & I notices that the old wool moss in the hanging baskets is a bit ragged, so it looks a s though they are pincking it for nestin material. I'm glad you've got sparrows, all this talk about them being rare I was getting a complex as I thought they were all in my gardenl!! I live about 300yds from 260 acres of mixed woods and get about a dozen species at most in my garden, my friend lives about 3 miles away got 30 odd when he did the survey the other weekend!

I get loads of Goldfinches & Greenfinches especially in the Silver birch (no Siskins yet ) but I was saying to Jax or LJ that I put up a half coconut with a fatball mix in it & it's hardly been pecked The 3 feeders I had up I've got soaking cos the seed went off in them & set rock hard! My friend has to fill his feeders about 3 times a week!!! He has no bushes in his garden at all, I've got loads can't understand it. I think there is too much food available loacally to me thats the trouble.

[smallblueplanet]

We also live in the countryside and have a fair number of birds visit - just today I saw a nuthatch on the peanut feeder (and the green woodpecker has been 'laughing' heartily).

For birdfood I'd recommend the old stalwarts of peanuts and sunflower hearts (these will be eaten faster than you can buy them!). When I tried making fat 'treats' the birds disagreed and they went mouldy!!! But this winter I bought 100 fatballs from Kennedys (for £15) and they've ate the lot (it 'helps' having 'endangered' starlings about too). Our goldfinches will eat niger seeds although they too prefer sunflower hearts!

I bought one of those plastic 'mushroom-shaped lidded' feeders to feed the robins/tits from to try and keep the starlings on the fatballs/peanuts and that worked mainly - you do get smart starlings working it out though!!

I've shied away from ground feeding since we ended up attracting rats (at one of our previous houses - BIG yuk!), but I have put down sultanas (50p a pack from morrisons/tescos) for the Blackies. Its amazing to see how many come and take them - although our original clematis nester 'Spot' (he has a white chest spot) still attempts to chase all others away! The sultanas/raisins are also taken by the robins and the 'odd' (another addict?) blue tit...

I love a wildlife!

Siskins....never seen one, but we had a goldcrest(s) feeding last winter!

[Emma]

I too live really close to a woodland (next door) and we get loads of species of birds. We have a beautiful green woodpecker that visits the lawn every morning pecking at the insects. Until I looked it up I thought they only fed from tree's, but apparently they spend more time on the open grass! Should perhaps have been called grass peckers!

Last year we had a family of blue tits nest in a vent under my kitchen window. The droppings didn't bother me although they did make a mess. It's just that it's really disconcerting when you are doing the washing up and a bird flies full pelt at the kitchen window only to dive straight up just before it hit it. I kept hoping he wouldn't miss! Even though they were there for ages they still made me jump. Hopefully they will be back this year as I'm going to put some boxes up nearby.

Nick, I had a similar problem a while ago with birds not using the feeders. I found that if they weren't reasonably secure and swung around a lot, it put them off. As soon as I got more sturdy feeders and secured the 1/2 coconut's with wire and not string they started coming back. Now like your friend I have to fill them up a couple of times a week. I also try and hang them so that there is branch nearby that they can perch on to feed. Not always possible I know, but I watch the ones that visit our garden a lot and they seem to use the surrounding branches as much as the perches.

Don't know if this will help,
Good Luck

[Lesley Jay]

It's lovely having a garden full of birds. So many different species I could watch them all day. The blue tits come back every year to the nesting box and the speed they fly across the garden and straight through the hole is quite amazing. One blink and you've missed them. I must give them some sultanas and raisins tomorrow. One bird that my husband doesn't welcome into the garden is the dreaded heron. It's a right cheeky thing.

[sewer rat]

Smallblueplanet

Big YUK

WHATS THE MATTER WITH RATS ?????????

I have blackies(large conifer), blue tits (nest box), robins (holly tree) and starlings nest in my garden ( the starlings are on a hole in the gable end of the house).
Feeders - I have three and as well as the above, I get Great Tits, Chaffinch, Fieldfare, House Sparrow ( A flock of around thirty seem to be able to small the wild bird seed as I bring it to the feeders), Wood Pigeon and Jackdaws. All are welcome in the Garden of Rat - except the last two and one of them will end up in my pot soon enough (and No, I don't mean the Jackdaws)
The variety of birds and wildlife I see at my work is unbelievable - have seen Ospreys taking trout from a fishery, Harriers, Red Kites, more Buzzards than I can count, Red Deer, Roe Deer, Sika Deer, Foxes, Pine Martens, Stoats, Mink, Seals and Dolphins - saw the dolphins just last week - was working near Fortose on the Black Isle and went down to a place called Chanonry Point to eat my pieces and there they were.

[smallblueplanet]

Sorry mate - Rats are vermin!!!! yuk! :-)

[nick the grief]

We get Buzzards round here Rat, in fact one circled over the lottie on Monday.

I did wonder about the Swinging feeder syndrome but John (my friend) has this and it doesn't put his birds off! I suspect we may well get a lot more that I see, but being at work I miss them. I know we've got Wrens, can't see them but boy can you here them!

I've got some more seed anyway so as soon as the feeders are cleaned out I'll re fill the m and I might put the big feeder on the Silver Birch at the ottom of the garden. I can always watch it fro the comfort of the Greenhouse then

[sewer rat]

Buzzards (Tourist Eagles) up here are now seen sitting on fenceposts every hundred yards or so. I think the placing of a lot of agricultural land into the set-aside scheme (whereby it is left fallow for a year), and the introduction of "beetle banks" ( a wide strip round the perimeter of the field left unploughed) has seen a huge increase in mice, voles etc and this in turn has meant adults are in fine fettle for breeding and rearing their young.
Red Kites have to be the bonniest BoP though. They are a reintroduction up here and they reckon there are 76 breeding pairs - I think most are within 35 miles of here. Very common site now.

[smallblueplanet]

The buzzards round here feed off bunny 'road-kill' from the railway line!

[nick the grief]

I remember the first Red Kite I saw. I was amazed how big they are. We have those fairly near to me (about 30 - 40 miles away) but they have't ventured this way yet, I live in hope! I've noticed the increase in Kestrels & Sparrowhawks since they've been leaving the set a-side strips round here. It's good to see.

[sewer rat]

Rabbits breed in the banks alongside the A9 (main road north of Perth to Wick) and so road-kill is plentiful too - buzzards seem to be getting lazier - few sights match an Osprey taking a fish, a peregrine in full dive or a sparrowhawk in full-on chase mode - these take skill