Here at Aigas we are blessed with a full range of habitats that attract a huge diversity of birds. However, as the majority of our trees are less than 60 years old, there is a real shortage of snags (holes in old trees) for birds to nest in. So instead of waiting 50 more years, or deliberately damaging healthy trees we have decided to put up nest boxes all over the estate to give our feathered friends a helping hand.

 

The following species have nestboxes on the estate:

 

 

Tawny Owl, Barn Owl, Kestrel, Swift, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper, Redstart, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Crested Tit, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Swallow, Pied Wagtail and Grey Wagtail. We also provide bat boxes.

 

 

We design and build all of our own nestboxes at Aigas, and will put the different designs on the web in the next few months so watch this space! As you may have guessed many of the boxes are identical, save for the size of the entrance hole and the location of the nestbox.

 

There are several golden rules applied to nestboxes, though to be honest there is no right or wrong answers. Birds are random, and will often take up residence in a poorly designed and badly located nestbox and similarly ignore a “perfect” nestbox. However, if you follow these rules it will certainly increase your chances of success.

 

1)      Face your nestboxes away from the strongest sun and wind (avoid north east to south west if in open sunshine). This stops the box overheating or getting drenched from the prevailing weather.

2)      Site your nestbox away from the ground, and avoid branches close to the entrance. Both of these rules are to avoid predators gaining access to the entrance hole.

3)      Hide open fronted nestboxes in deep cover. Ideal locations are in thick hedges against walls or amongst climbing plants. They do not do well on bare trees and walls, as predators can easily claim an easy meal.

4)      Do not put nestboxes too close to feeding stations. Most nesting birds are territorial and will spend their time defending their patch, if this patch contains feeders then they will be frequently distracted from their chicks. For the same reasons do not site similar style nest boxes too close to each other. However, a nestbox for a Robin will be fine close to a Blue Tit box.

5)      Make your nestboxes accessible. It is important that any maintenance and cleaning of nestboxes is done safely. Make sure you can access them safely, and if using a ladder get someone to help you. Cleaning is optional, but will increase your chances of success in the following year. Birds would rather look elsewhere than use a dirty box.

6)      Be patient! Nestboxes may take a year to be fully accepted by the local birds, so don’t be tempted to move it too quickly. On the same theme, don’t be tempted to peek into a nestbox if you think a bird has taken up residence. Many species of bird would abandon the nest and not return if it sees its nest being tampered with.

 

     

If you've got any questions or comments about nest boxes please feel free to send them to our Staff Naturalist, Philip Knott at: phil@aigas.co.uk.

 

                                                                  

       Shown below are (from top to bottom): A barn owl box in the barn, a blue tit box with 25mm hole, a great tit box with 17mm hole, a treecreeper box and a spotted flycatcher box.