The Lincolnshire Bird Club

I've today been cleaning out nest boxes on a local site and the majority have had nests in them. Out of 8 boxes checked 6 had nests in them, 4 of which being Great Tit nests and the other 2 Blue Tit nests. The ones that didn't have a nest in where put up very late in spring(april) so this probably was the reason.

Unfortunatly I've had to throw a few out and replace them after only one year, the reason being that water had got down the gap at the back and cracked the wood, these are to be replaced by the Schwegler 1b boxes, 2 of which I put up today. So a quick tip for anyone, make sure that water cannot get in, the ones that have cracked are my earlier ones were I was still learning the best way of making them.

Also found were a few Chrysalis buried at the bottom of the nests, these where relocated to a box where I left the nest in place 2 of them where large, probably those of Large Yellow Underwing which are very common around the lake.

How have others nest boxes faired in the Lincs area? It's a nice feeling to do your little bit to help the Tit populations

John

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Do you record what uses your boxes? If not, why not have a look at the BTO Website re Nest Recording if you would like to do something for science as well as the bird population. A tip on keeping the boxes dry, make a continuous "hinge" out of rubber or roofing felt so that it's next to the tree trunk and allows the water to run down.

That BTO nest box scheme was something I meant to do last spring but kind of never got around to it have set it up for next spring though

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