Getting Started With Bird-Feeding 3

Hello, fellow birders. In Getting Started With Bird-Feeding 3, we will talk about nesting-boxes and other nesting-related things, such as what to feed in the breeding season. Although this is not feeding the birds, if you want a total bird-paradise garden backyard   It is well worth taking the time to make or spending  the money to buy a nesting-box (or a whole load of them) as the delight of having a family successfully fledged on your property is one of the most rewarding experiences in birdwatching  for both bird and man! The RSPB sells some really stylish yet functional nesting-boxes and minature wildlife cameras to go in them. As soon as I can afford one, I will be getting one! click here to access the shopping website. There are some epic feeder deals on there too! The most common type of nesting-box is the titmouse-box.

A Cheery Titmouse-box but not very serviceable

Some have multiple holes to encourage communal nesting, but the floor space is rarely big enough for more than one nest, as one typical Blue Titmouse nest is about 15 cm diameter, although there are exceptions. The RSPB sell a communal sparrow nesting-box, the Sparrow Terrace box, designed to encourage Tree Sparrows. It may still be used by one pair of birds though. You can buy metal titmouse-box hole-plates to prevent Greater Spotted Woodpeckers enlarging the hole to eat the young or eggs. Perches are not really necessary as they act as a perfect spot for House Sparrows to ambush the titmice living inside. Other specialist nesting-boxes are available from some suppliers and artificial House Martin nests are rising in popularity.

My nesting-boxes poster

You can make or buy owl chimneys which are rectangular wooden tubes closed off at one end and have a hinged roof for cleaning and inspection. They are suspended below a forty-five degree tree branch or if there is no mature trees, under a plank of wood simulating a branch. A really easy way to make an owl chimney is to just wire a size 4+ welly boot under the branch or branch-simulator, it will suffice as well. Make sure you poke drainage holes in the bottom though. Open-fronted boxes are just like titmouse-boxes with half of the front panel taken off. Spotted Flycatchers use them when tucked away in some ivy, and Robins love them anywhere. Giant ones are used by Kestrels and sometimes Collared Doves. Robins will nest in the hole left by taking a brick out of your wall or in a flowerpot, or on a shelf in the shed, or pretty much anywhere, but they really appreciate the extra protection of a nesting-box. Swift-boxes are available to fix under the eaves of the house and Swift-blocks are Swift-boxes the size of a wall brick, so you can take a brick out of the wall and replace it with a Swift-block. Always have the hole projecting into the garden so the Swift parents are bombarded with a big supply of tasty insects as soon as they leave the nest. Natural nest-sites are important too. Time to get pruning! Remember all those berry-bearing shrubs you have? The ones who provide plenty of energy in the winter? They can also be a total boon in summer! Find the growing tip of a side-shoot which is in the middle of a nice at-least-three-pronged fork of stems. Cut it out like on the poster. It's worth having your hands cut up by thorns to do this (wear gloves and your hands won't get cut up) with Firethorn (Pyracantha), Hawthorn (or Glastonbury Thorn), Buckthorn, and any other thorny shrub, as the thorns (especially of Blackthorns or plums - they are like nails!) keep predators at bay. If you find a nest already in a shrub, sod pruning and wait til next year.  Leave some unused items such as cracked flowerpots or jugs, and leaky watering-cans lying around. A Robin is sure to move in. Late is better than never with nesting-boxes. I have put up a titmouse-box as late as April before, and a family of Great Titmice moved in and were successfully fledged in the same year! Now, it's all very well creating nest-sites, but if there is not a sufficient food supply, no birds will move in. Insects and their larvae are the most important food for chicks and fledgelings. Your shrubs and trees and any other plants (if they are native) should provide good hunting ground for insects. Leave some rotting logs hanging about to attract more. Supplement this supply with meal-worms, maggots, crickets, and waxworms. You can buy mealworms, waxworms, and maggots live online from the RSPB, and dried mealworms from many places. Pet-shops sell crickets for feeding to reptiles, but these are first-rate for birds too. Mealworm feeders are available from the RSPB for hanging and on the ground. Use a high-sided dish for crickets because as we know, crickets are class at jumping! Waxworms are the larva of the Waxmoth. If you buy them from a reputable supplier (the RSPB is the best one, as for everything!) they will never pupate. Breeding your own mealworms is easy. They come with bran mixed in, so just put them in a cool dark place like a garage. Use the sack they come in, or a biscuit tin, and just top up the bran or buy a mealworm feed. They will breed on their own. Total money saver! Fat is a good substitute for "insects" as they are generally classed in shops ("live foods" is the correct term that the RSPB and other online suppliers use) as it has much the same nutritional values. It is high in protein and moisture, for chicks, and it is a good source of energy for the parent birds. You can make your own bird-cake (suet-cake or block) by following this recipe:

Take a yoghurt pot (cleaned out) and pop a hole in the bottom (only if you want to hang it up) tie a string through the hole. Melt some suet or tallow (not lard as this is greasy and will make a bird's bill sticky and render it useless, and it melts, and it is not as nutritious) on the heat, and pour it into the pot (make more than one if there is too much fat, the more the merrier!) Stir in a mixture of bird-seed mix (for once and once only, use it), stale cake crumbs, dried fruit, poppy seed (blue maw), ant's "eggs" (these are really cocoons), and chopped dried meal-worms. Leave to set then turn out onto the bird-table or hang up. Suet or tallow won't melt in the sun like lard does.

The final touch is nesting material. What use is a nesting-box without a nest? Make your bird-garden just that tiny bit better by stapling a piece of wire mesh to a fence or tree or whatever and stuffing it with pet bedding, hay, or even the hair from the dog (or fluff from Malcolm the Blue Dwarf Lop and Frances the Blue Dutch rabbits in my case.) Practically anything snuggly will do. The RSPB sells these cute little apple wool-pots and the wool to go in them. Refill them even when you think no more birds are nesting in your garden, for many birds outside of your garden may be using it too. THANKS, PEOPLES!!!! Keep commenting.