Topic: Birds are nesting

[wardy]

I've been watching a robin collecting leaves and twigs for a nest it's building on the ivy on my wall.  I've put some fluff from the tumble dryer nearby for it and some food as well and I'm hoping to be able to get a photo of it. 

We've had bluetits checking out the nesting box but I don't think they liked it  :(

Last year we had bluetits nesting and I watched their babies fledge (unmissable event for anyone that's never seen it).  I also had a wren nest in a hollow in my wall but I never saw any fledglings. 

The doves are emptying my bird feeders faster than I can fill them  :)

[GREENWIZARD]

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[Marianne]

I envy you Wardy - I wish my ivy would grow quicker to cover the fence and then I could have little birds nesting in there too !  Good luck with whatever takes the fancy of your little nest boxes !  :D

[quinny]

I put a tit box up on a north facing wall, fairly sheltered. A real smart cookie I am - from no part of the house can I see the bird box!! I've seen one (tit) hop along a telephone wire and then disappear out of vision into the box I think.  My neighbor says she has seen them enter it a couple of time - I'll be well chuffed if they're in there...!

I thought about getting a couple of bat boxes also - there are bat's in my back garden in the summer months.  I was a bit scared they'd end up roosting in the loft though - even worse the neighbours!

[Marianne]

aawww well done quinny!  I love it when they are all ready to fly out into the wild world.  They are so very sweet and so not scared of anything !
 ;D :D

[Jesse]

Must check out my nesting box then. Well it's not really a box, more like a nest thing made from reeds. I put it up quite high in our old crab apple tree weeks ago and have ignored it since.

[Carol]

Yes, they are pairing up now.  I had the blue tits and great tits investigating the nesting box.  I had the blue tits in there last year so heres hoping again.  I have also got the pair of yellowhammers back again.  They had a nest in my garden last year as well and were never far away all summer.  There is a bit of arguing going on for the Conifer in our garden.  I usually have a nest in there every year, usually the Song Thrush but think the Blackbirds are hogging it just now.  The Dunnocks are also busy with a few of them hanging around my garden but they are promiscuous birds and the male has more than one mate usually.   :o :o

Roll on April though, when my favourites return, the Swallow.  I had them nesting under my eaves and thoroughly enjoyed watching them because they were only a few feet from where I sit typing on my puter.  

[MagpieDi]

I heard the curlews and lapwings in the field this morning. Just love them!

[rosebud]

Hi Quinny  think about that bat box very carefully, my sister put one up and bats took over her loft, when she and her husband tried to get rid they got into a lot of conflict because her neighbours complained they were preventing the bats from entering the loft, she had some officials come round and they told her they are a protected species they had trouble for a long time.  I wont tell you how they got rid in the end. :o :o

[quinny]

Yeh I knew it would be a bit dodgy.  Someone I work with had them in her loft - some flew in her window one nightshe was swatting them like flies.  She went to put her work trousers on in the morning and low and behold one of the little guys was curled up inside!!

The national trust or something like that placed an order against her having them removed...  She struggled to sell her house - maybe I won't encourage the little geezers!!

Thanks.

[Val]

Wardy we had blue tits checking out the nest box before all the snow, there's been nothing since, I guess they've decided against it.They nested last year but the brood sadly died.

[Granny_Smith]

Don't forget to brush your cats and dogs! The bird love the soft fur for their nests. Last year as fast as I placed the brush contents in the tree, it disappeared in the beaks of the blue t*ts.

[Mrs Ava]

I haven't seen any bluetits checking out our nesting box, and I assumed they would have already set up home by now, so I am still hopeful.  The starlings are once again in our roof, but this will be the last time as hopefully (finances permitting) we are having that all repaired....once the birds have flown the coop!  Also another family of starlings have been raiding my hacked down giant grass taking all of the dry blades and the birdies on the allotment are grabbing every single grub, caterpillar and worm I lob to them!

[osprey480]

Have blackbird sitting already in nest in evergreen honeysuckle. I will have to start my "cat patrol" soon I expect.

[BAGGY]

Does anyone know if wrens come back to the same nest like swallows.  We had them in the ivy last year and I hear them but have not seen them yet.

[quinny]

I had a pair of tits nesting in a small nest box that I bought and was so happy i thought I'd make one from the Gardener's World magazine article this month.

The plan was so easy even I managed it.  The box was a beauty in comparison to the bought one.  I highly recommend making it, it's brill - cost me a £1...

Here's the dilemma though, my pair of tits have up-sized their house and moved to the one next door.  I had the box up for 30 minutes and they were already investigating it...!!!  Excited??? I cannot express...  Now will this have interfered with their birth plan?  They had spent about a month in the old one and no doubt built their nest, now I've lured them to a larger property do you think it will matter?

Also, does anyone know why they peck at the entrance hole of the box?