Schwegler 1B Bird Box - Oval Hole (Red)

Choosing Nest Boxes Gardens can be frustrating places for birds: they often provide plenty of feeding opportunities but nowhere to nest. Erecting nest boxes makes a positive contribution to bird conservation, and there’s a suitable nest box available for the majority of garden birds. Nest boxes have advanced enormously in recent years, and at Wildcare we pride ourselves on being able to provide top quality boxes for anything from blue tits to tawny owls. Even a small garden can support several nest boxes. Ideally they should face east or south-east to be shielded from the hot afternoon sun. Blue tits, great tits and house sparrows like nest boxes with a 32mm entrance hole. To cater specifically for blue tits choose a 26mm hole. Tree sparrows will adopt boxes hung in trees (32mm hole) and if you live in western Britain you might be able to attract Redstarts or Pied Flycatchers. Robins like open-fronted boxes and are most likely to use them if they are tucked away in ivy against a fence or wall, with the entrance turned to one side. If you are lucky enough to have spotted flycatchers visiting your garden, an open-fronted box on the house (ideally among honeysuckle or climbing roses) is likely to be adopted. Swallows and house martins are catered for with specialist boxes that closely resemble their own mud nests, while swifts have a variety of box specially designed for them. Not all species use boxes, of course. Thrushes and Blackbirds invariably make their own nests, as do Collared Doves and Woodpigeons, Goldcrests and Long-Tailed Tits. Though the best time to put up boxes is in late winter and early spring, giving the birds plenty of time to get used to them before nesting begins, there’s no wrong time. Some species, such as house martins and spotted flycatchers, will adopt a box within minutes of it being put up. Don’t forget, too, that many species use boxes for winter roosting: wrens roosting in house-martin boxes are quite usual.