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Nest Boxes .....
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Ppink; Blue tits aren't exactly known for their gregarious attitudes, at any time of the year or under any circumstances.
To be honest with ye? The idea of 'clustering' nest boxes is neck and neck with such complete and total misconceptions as having a nest box any where near feeders. Offering plastic ('Sweat') boxes, etc. Or going to the effort of making a box; Only to offer the bird the opportunity to live in what amounts to an under stairs cupboard.
In short? No. If ye want to look after blue tits? Focus on what blue tits want. They want that room. They also want their space. I don't have any 'by the foot' information to hand. But, as ye asking me? I just go my 'nose'. When I lived in a 'nice' house, early suburban sort of thing? I'd put up one BTB in the back garden. One box is enough for pretty much any 'garden', in the usually accepted sense of the term.
Now? Now I'm gone crazy. I now live in an old family farm cottage with, I'd guess, about half an acre or so of 'garden'.I have about 1/3 of Sitka Spruce stand. 1/3 of 'open ground. 'Lived on', with a tree sheltered ditch running beside it'. 1/3 of paddock, backed by a bigger stand of Sitka, on one side. Tree 'hedges' on the others. Like the sitka's, pretty much left to it. Out buildings in amongst.
Been here five years. Watched the birds like a hawk. Now I'm ready to box up
I reckon this patch can handle three BTB's. Couple of Great Tit Boxes. At least one Coal Tit box ~ God; How I'd love to get those in one!
And that's aside from the robins and spotted fly's. Not to mention the tree creeper. The pied wag's? Don't even start me off on those! See? All these birds can be 'boxed', in a comparatively small area. Just use ye loaf and don't try to get any of them living so they have to eyeball eachother from their boxes. Certainly not the same species anyway.
Finches? All native finches are what we call " Open Nesters ". That's to say they make nests in bushes and trees. No interest in getting into holes and hiding. About the only thing we can do for them is to leave them somewhere (natural) to nest. Hedgerows and tree lines. Most importantly; Peace.
One may also choose to 'Control' potential predators of such birds, in ones own patch. These would mainly be gray crows, magpies and cats. I'm a professional 'Pest Controller'. I specialise in fur and feather. Anyone care (or Dare!) to start off on That subject?
The guy in ye link? Nothing to do with our subject. Fair play to the guy; He seems to create some ... err ... well; 'Creations', doesn't he? Puts me in mind of 'Lord Leitrim of Lough Rynn'. Only, at least the places he had put up could be lived in.
No self respecting birds would adopt those monstrosities *Cough!* " Creations " .....0 -
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Trebor; As, I'm sure, I've already pointed out on this thread ~ I'm trying to explain perfection, as close as we can get it. If ye only have planks an inch either side? Fine. Better a bedsit or even a home with 'spare room' than no room at the inn.
One inch / 25mm hole is perfect for the blue tit. 28mm for the larger great tit. Keeps them apart, see? GT can't get into a BT's box. BT gets into a GT's box? He's liable to get the sh!t beat out of him! (Alright; Saying that? I have a whack off big natural hole in my cow shed. Blue, Great? Just a matter of who gets there first in any given year. But .....)
Pic's are great! Please do. I'm interested to see how ye using this lino. Though, I would point out that it'll barely get through a single years usage as any sort of hinge.
I'm Really, Seriously being rushed off my feet tonight. Various fora and text messages. Running like a lunatic, just to stay still. But, I Will produce that cutting plan for the front opener. May even knock one up and show a photographic guide? Though, in all honesty? I think that would be an insult to anyone's intelligence.
Christ; If ye can saw a straight enough line? Ye can make one of these boxes!
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still got loads of blue/coal/longtail tits here too so I will get a few boxes done and set them up apart from each other.
Interesting! Blue's we've about done to death. Long's don't use boxes ~ look about eye level in cover that doesn't go a lot higher. Hard to describe it but; They like a 'stand' of bush, rather than a 'thinner' hedge. Nest like a smallish easter egg. No bigger than ye fist, if that big. Mossy looking thing.
Coal tits are my thing of the moment. I'm into these! NO Prior experience. I've simply never lived near them before. I've asked the experts though and the response was wide and varied.
Seems one can use a box with a hole in the side. Or even on the top(?!) Positioned anywhere from ground level to a few foot up a tree.
Pink; Bear with me. I raised this on the NRS's private / members only forum. I'll go in there and dig out what they told me. Wouldn't it be interesting if we both made identical boxes, this year, and placed them in similar situations ~ them compared notes on what happens? 0 -
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Here's a photo:So, it's not going to be as simple as advising ye to repaint ye entire property white then? :P
Tricky one, mate. I'm well enough familiar with what ye'd call a bungalow. Height, up in the apex of the eves, would be fine. I've known them nest at twice that height and even lower.
It's not the colour of the wall ~ they completely prefer white walls. God alone knows why, but it's almost a strict prerequisite with them.
This board above the 'boxes' niggles me. Why did ye do that? I'm trying to visualise exactly what positions ye have these nests in. And why ye felt the need to put a board over them.
That snags. I could be part of the problem. Equally, they might just not have felt the need to come to you yet.
Have ye monitored them over the years? (Ye obviously, seriously know ye stuff. See that from ye other posts. I'd have you down as someone who'd have ye finger on the pulse) Have they built up? Have they taken over new sites?
If they're taking new sites and still ignoring ye ready made nests? Then I'd venture that it has to be something in that positioning.
Oh, and North is perfectly fine too. Only bird that ever nested in town was on a north facing wall.
Let's talk about that top board and the exact positions of these nests.
I put the board up to stop birds like crows landing on nest and peeking into the nest. Should I remove the shelf?0 -
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Oh, I see!
Exactly like the side / end of my own place here. I think I was so focused on that nest in town that I was blinded to the fact that that place has the sort of eves where the roof sticks out a bit.
I'm sure ye know the sort of thing I mean. Birds shove their nests up hard under the over hang and bingo; They have their roof.
Nope. Can't honestly see a damn thing wrong with ye set up. So, the only real thing we have left to go on is; Are ye situated amidst a sellers market?
If that colony's expanding at all? Ye should have every chance of some coming to you. If they're static, or declining? Be a bit like me putting a Barn Owl box in my cow shed. Might look the business. But as I have no Barn Owls around me .....0 -
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Here ye go. I've caved in as I'm simply too busy. I've nicked the diagram from the BTO book " Nestboxes " by Chris du Feu.
I'll just point out ~ for the umpteenth time :rolleyes: ~ that they suggest a six inch plank here. I consider that 'minimal' to the point of being cramped.
When ye go down to the builders yard or saw mill then, to pick up a rough sawn plank. When ye open ye mouth to say, " A six inch, rough finish, plank, please. " Just force yeself to slip in the word " Seven " or " Eight " where ye trying to say " Six ".
Then ye can pretty much follow this Cutting Plan:
See? Great box. About the simplest form of construction there is. Don't need to be a Cabinet Maker or Einstein to put that together, do ye?0 -
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here is my blue tit house, hopefully!
i took that before i put the little lino roof on it. it just goes from the front of the lid to the bit at the back up against the tree.
its facing roughly south east.
i brought it out to where i was going to sight it, but hadnt enough wire, went back in to get more and on the way out i could see a blue tit on the roof pecking at it to test out my workmanship.:D
that area will all be overgrown come spring/summer time so should be ok.0 -
Trebor; That's great, mate. And, like ye say; Blue Tit's already prospecting it! Ye'll have them in there this year, I reckon. Then it'll become a pretty well permanent thing
One word of advice? Take that 'perch' off. Extremely common but Big mistake, putting perches on nest boxes. Birds don't need them (OK, kestrels do. But, lets not split hares here)
No, providing any sort of perch is really just providing a foot hold for a predator who's trying to reach inside there.0 -
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how the hell do they manage to get in there while flying??
Aha! See? Now, this is exactly what people don't understand. Right? That's why they well intentionedly imagine the bird must need a landing perch
Ye sat in a chair, right? OK. Hold ye arms straight out in front of ye (move the chair to give yeself room for this). That's ye wings, at the furthest point of their downward beat. Right?
Now bring ye legs up. Bend ye knees and then straighten ye legs. Or simply lift ye legs to horizontal.
See? That's how birds do it. They simply reach out with their little, grippy feet and grab hold of the bottom lip of the hole. Then they close their wings and pop in.
They do it all so fast, even if we're stood there watching, it's hard to spot those little legs kicking out there. But that's what they do
Know all sorts of weird stuff, don't I?
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Cheers Ditch. Marine ply seems to be too good for my BT's....no 'lookers' yet. It is only up about 12 hours thought. Trebor's BT box looks well good. Your right on the mark with the perch - i read on the net...(and from you)..it's a complete, NO NO! Too many predators, etc. Amazing the way these little birds can fly right in, at such a speed and NOT crash....:rolleyes: So would it be criminal to put another one about 30/40ft away from my current BT box? 0
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Distance between boxes? There's two answer to this one, guys. One is the stiffly scientific one. The other ~ and the one I favour ~ is, " How long is a bit of string? "
See, research has been done into the spacial density of the genus paras, blah, blah, my eyes are glazing ..... I think it comes down to something like five hundred yard territories for blue tits. That's in woods. Seems pretty immense to me. But, that's my understanding of the dry, academic papers.
Dunno. Ordinary people have reported them nesting in boxes pretty much side by side! Bang goes another Phd earning piece of research! :rolleyes:
But, let's forget all that. Let's just have fun! You just put up what ever boxes ye feel like. Where ever. I don't know if ye live in a terraced house in central Dublin or on an isolated farmstead in Mayo. How can I lay down hard and fast rules for ye in ye unknown situations?
Much, much more important than, 'How many Blue Tit boxes can I saturate an area with?' is the question; 'How many Different boxes can I put up, to provide for the greatest range of species?'
Now, There's a question we can seriously get our teeth into! I've done Blue Tit, Starling, Great Spotted Woodpecker. Next I'm figuring to cover the other side of the Blue Tit coin; The Great Tit!
Great tits are buggers for the boxes too. Only, in an ideal world, they have slightly different preferences to the Blue. I'd certainly put up one of each, even in the pokiest back yard. And I wouldn't stop there either 0 -
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MG; Now that I've got up off the floor ....! WOW!!! Dippers? That's So Sexy!
Frankly, I've absolutely no experience of these fantastic birds. Simply because I've never lived anywhere near where they could be found.
However, I've just posed ye question on the Nest Recorders forum. It's been published a few minutes ago. Maybe, tomorrow ~ when I receive the next digest ~ someone with experience of Dippers will have voiced an opinion
And now I'd like to ask a favour; Could ye please explain to us the dimensions of that box and how it's put together?
Only, I recognise it as a home made version of the Dipper / Gray Wagtail box Schwegler produce. I've always wanted to get my hands on one of those, to learn the dimensions and details.
I now have Gray wag's in reach of me. And I have possibly several bridges in mind. Strangely; I thought I had the diagram for that box. But, I've just gone through my library and can't find it
I'd be most obliged ..... 0 -
I like Great Tits. There's just something about them.
The sort of boxes for them are actually remarkably different from ye bog standard blue tit box. Great tits like their depth. I like giving them some depth too.
Because they need a bigger hole ~ 28mm. And the bigger the entrance hole, the greater the risk of something else getting a furry arm in there. So, good depth keeps the bird down, out of reach.
Two sorts of box then; The one we've already covered under Blue Tit. Only with different dimensions. Or an entirely different sort of concept altogether ~ and one I like, if only because it makes such a pleasant change
~ the 'Long' box style. I call it the " Shoe Box ". Ye'll see why .....
'Standard' (Blue Tit type) box then, for great tits, I'd want certainly that magical six inch square inside base. Then it wants to be deep. A foot would be the minimum I'd consider.
Some authorities have even stated twenty inches! Blimey! Ironically though; Would ye believe that was suggested as a way of stopping ~ wait for it! ~ " Nuisance " Tree Sparrows from moving in! :eek: Those were the days, eh?! 'Lovely great tits. Don't want those marauding flocks of Tree Sparrows in our boxes!'
No. Good foot or so deep would suit me, and ye average great tit too. Bit more's fine. But twenty inches? Waste of good timber.
And that, really, just about covers the standard type great tit box. Now how about this Shoe Box idea?
Quite simply, think of a shoe box and we're pretty much there Only, this one we make out of wood. But, it's the same shape as a shoe box. And the hole(s) are made at the end of the box. Not in the longer side.
Again, I'd aim for a minimum six inch internal width. About the same height. Length? Foot, minimum again. Fifteen inches wouldn't be over kill.
Some people suggest ye put a baffle towards the back. Little, low fence that the bird'll nest behind. Up to you, in my opinion. Its not being there won't stop the bird nesting back and it'll make cleaning the box out easier.
Perhaps a compromise suggestion might be a baffle in a foot one. No need in fifteen inches?
Hole(s), as said, need to be 28mm for great tits. And, as this box closer replicates the sorts of places they nest in my cow shed; Under the roof and behind wall plates. Long, deep tunnel sorts of places (Places which I can't get at, incidentally! Hence I'm going to block them and put up boxes instead, so I can record the nests) Light travels differently in them.
So, it's considered a good idea to put a couple of holes, side by side. That way, more light can get in. This, supposedly, encourages the birds to nest further back too. The whole idea of this getting them well back is to stop furry arms from reaching them again. See?
One little tip about this design; Use a wider plank for the top. It wants to cover the top edges of both side walls. Yeah? And run a good bead of mastic along the tops of those side walls, and the back, before ye fasten the top. Makes a nice, water proof seal, see? Handy with flat topped boxes
Ooh, before I forget; Great tits seem to like that bit more height, if ye can manage it? I mean; Blue tit'll just about nest at eye level.
But great's do like a bit of height. They like exposure too. Somewhere they can look out from and see lots. And they like a clear air space to come home through.
In a word; They do better on the wall of a building than buried away in the middle of a leafy tree. Trunk of an ash tree, in a fence / hedge line's fine though. Long as it's beneath the branches. but still about ten foot up
Edit
This tree is the sort I'd put a Great Tit box on. See how it's nice and clear all around it? Tree itself isn't encumbered with a load of branches either.
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Just read though this thread yesterday. Thanks Ditch for all the good advice. Keep it coming Made my own 6"X6" blue tit box today and put it up in the garden. We have blue tits and coal tits in the area so hopefully we get some residents for the box. 0
. Sure as they say: Practice makes perfect. Marine ply is the Mercedes of cuts then... 
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