Bird boxes

 An encouraging number of people are keen to sponsor a bird box it seems. So over the last week some have been fitted in likely locations within the wood. You may have seen two chaps, both immensely good-looking, up a ladder, acting very safely.

Whilst there seem to be many birds in the wood, it is likely that some boxes will not be nested in just yet. But, given adequate nesting opportunities, the population will increase to its optimum size, governed by the amount of food available in the immediate vicinity.

Food will be especially important as parent birds are trying to feed their chicks and to keep the resident birds fed during the cold winter months. If you like to feed the birds in your garden, it is the winter feeding regime that will help birds through the difficult months until the spring glut of natural food returns. 

There are two schools of thought on summer feeding. Some advocate that it is important to keep feeding as the birds have become reliant on the supplement. Others warn that the population is artificially raised by feeding and that young chicks could potentially choke on hard morsels.

If you have put yourself forward to sponsor a bird box, thank you very much indeed. Fund-raising through your sponsorship will go to maintaining the boxes and the wood.

Currently, there are 25 boxes fitted. They will be monitored to see how many are successful and will be re-positioned as required during their annual maintenance and cleaning during the autumn.

They have mostly been positioned with their entrance holes pointed in a northerly direction and placed 3-4 metres above the ground as per the conceived wisdom for this sort of thing. However, we have experimented a bit and a couple of boxes have been sited to take advantage of eccentric bird tastes. They have been  placed so as to be visible from the path and easily observed without having to go off-piste and trample the budding wildflowers.

Some boxes will be secreted in the undergrowth and targeted at robins and wrens. As these species prefer their nest boxes lower down and with an open front, they are more vulnerable to predators. As such they need to be protected amongst thick cover and will not be visible from the path. However, the targeted species are noted singers and we hope to be able to install a wooden stump for the sponsor to sit in the vicinity of the box and enjoy the songs of the proud fathers as they proclaim their presence on the territory.