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17-11-2007, 06:13 PM
|  | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
All three of our boxes (complete with cameras) are now re-installed.
Box 1 and Box 2 are being visited regularly, but we only get an occasional visit to Box 3 (which has no external camera - yet)! We've had visits from blue and great tits, a wren and a nuthatch, though only a bluetit has plucked up the courage to go right inside one of the boxes.   
Last edited by Elizabeth B; 17-11-2007 at 06:14 PM.
Reason: Error in posting photograph
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17-11-2007, 08:45 PM
| | Frozen | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: march, cambridgeshire
Posts: 2,176
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
hi elizabeth are you talking about this time of year or was that back in the summer. |
17-11-2007, 08:54 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Quote:
Originally Posted by naturelover  hi elizabeth are you talking about this time of year or was that back in the summer. | Hi naturelover - I'm talking about this month, and the nuthatch photo was actually caught today by one of the webcams. If you click on a pic to enlarge it, you'll see the time and date when it was taken. |
17-11-2007, 09:44 PM
| | Frozen | | Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: march, cambridgeshire
Posts: 2,176
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
i shall have to get me some of them,i didnt realise birds used nest boxes in the winter,i suppose they get in them for warmth brilliant. |
18-11-2007, 06:50 AM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Suffolk
Posts: 2,841
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Quote:
Originally Posted by naturelover i shall have to get me some of them,i didnt realise birds used nest boxes in the winter,i suppose they get in them for warmth brilliant. | Yes naturelover the boxes are just as important in the winter for them to roost in  |
18-11-2007, 07:41 AM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: May 2007 Location: Hidden in the clover
Posts: 1,561
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Elizabeth - your Blue Tits were an inspiration to us last year. We put up a box late (March) and within a week we had a result. At the end of May, five fledglings flew our box (all fattened up with waxworms etc.. that we had provided).
Can't wait for the new year - I'm desperately checking out the web for CHEAP birdbox cams.
We look forward to seeing your diaries also.... I've (for one) missed them in the past few months!
Cheers
Doug |
18-11-2007, 08:47 AM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Doug - thank you for this, and congratulations on your success! Our website has been updated, but there's not a lot to say right now - though we're hoping we might get some "roosters". |
31-12-2007, 04:26 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
An update!
We are still getting occasional visits to all three boxes - but there's no sign of a "rooster" yet.
Here are two from today - Box 1.   |
31-12-2007, 05:05 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Grimsby, Lincs
Posts: 1,573
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Wouldn't it be great if the Nuthatch used a nest box of yours i'd be hooked to the computer watching that  |
31-12-2007, 06:06 PM
|  | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 294
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Thats brilliant, i've been thinking about getting a camera set-up in our Boxes.
That would be brilliant if the Nuthatch stayed around |
31-12-2007, 06:08 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lincs Yellowbelly Wouldn't it be great if the Nuthatch used a nest box of yours i'd be hooked to the computer watching that | Well the birds in our garden seem to need larger holes than those recommended by the RSPB! 
They suggest: 25 mm for blue, coal and marsh tits
28 mm for great tits, tree sparrows and pied flycatchers
32 mm for house sparrows and nuthatches
45 mm for starlings
However, when Box 1 had a 28mm hole, the great tits wouldn't go inside, although they seemed desperate to find a nesting place (see 9th April 2005 onwards on our website) - but they moved in as soon as the hole was enlarged to 32mm.
Boxes 1 and 2 have 28mm holes at the moment, and Box 3 has 32mm - but that's on the side of the house, and faces the side of the next door house, so I doubt if even a slim nuthatch would be interested (though we regularly see one in the garden). |
31-12-2007, 07:06 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Grimsby, Lincs
Posts: 1,573
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
When I make nest boxes I always go for a 32mm Hole, and have had lots of Great Tit use them and also the Blue Tit. I've seen plenty of boxes with very small holes(25mm) and the Blue Tit struggle to get inside those, I'd say that 28mm is the minimum a nest box hole should be myself |
06-01-2008, 04:14 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Box 2 has been visited by a pair of bluetits - though Boxes 1 and 3 have been ignored so far this year.
On January 3rd, one bluetit went inside and had a look around, also going up to the hole to look outside two or three times. I've decided that this was a male, judging by his behaviour - on one occasion he crouched down at the back of the box, as we've often seen in previous years when a female is likely to join him - but on this occasion she didn't come in.
However, a few seconds later he suddenly looked very alert - and I found from replaying the photos from both cameras that his partner was on the outside of the box at that time.   |
28-01-2008, 06:20 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Yesterday both bluetits were together (briefly) in Box 2. 
The female obviously doesn't approve of the RSPB's suggestion of adding a handful of wood shavings to the box, after it's been cleaned. On January 12th she went in and out of the box 35 times within 6 minutes and 3 seconds, removing bits.
Here is a pic showing the box soon after it was replaced on the tree.  |
29-01-2008, 05:59 PM
|  | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: North Coast Cornwall
Posts: 369
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Hi Elizabeth,
All your pictures are making me really excited. We put our box up today and within a few minutes the great tits checked it out. I am now watching a very empty box on the TV screen. It seems from your experience that they don't like bedding provided?
I just hope they go in and begin building their nest and are happy. |
29-01-2008, 06:29 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Quote:
Originally Posted by hobble Hi Elizabeth,
All your pictures are making me really excited. We put our box up today and within a few minutes the great tits checked it out. I am now watching a very empty box on the TV screen. It seems from your experience that they don't like bedding provided?
I just hope they go in and begin building their nest and are happy. | This certainly sounds promising - good luck for the future, I'll hope to hear more news in due course, though it may be a while before they start nest building. (Have a look at our Overview page to see the dates on various activities).
Seeing the birds in the box(es) still makes us excited - though not quite so much as it did in 2001! At first we did not have any image capturing software on the computer, so we had the volume turned up on the TV set in the sitting room, and if we heard any interesting noises, one of us would dash into the study to grab a photo via a computer. Now we get around 10,000 photos a day from each camera when things are really lively. (It's rather time consuming whizzing through them all to get the best pics). Isn't it sad that I don't have much time to do any housework during the birds' breeding season?! |
02-02-2008, 11:47 AM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
There's now a third camera for Box 3.  |
02-02-2008, 04:05 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
A friend has said this box looks really palatial - so I've shown her a photograph of the inside. 
More photos can be seen by following the link to the Bigg Bird Box on our Home Page. |
10-02-2008, 04:49 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Confused bluetit
Today was another sunny, spring-like day (after a frosty night) - and this bluetit is getting ideas!  |
10-02-2008, 04:59 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: May 2007 Location: Hidden in the clover
Posts: 1,561
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elizabeth B Confused bluetit
Today was another sunny, spring-like day (after a frosty night) - and this bluetit is getting ideas! |
BLIMEY!!!
I hope THAT behaviour doesn't last!
Four weeks early at least I'd reckon?
Great stuff Elizabeth!
Ours are carrying out their normal morning inspections and removing the remaining wood shavings (  ) from the box.
Bit worried about our male though - he has 2 dark circular marks on his face - one by each eye, making him look like he has four eyes!
I don't know whether these are abrasions, infections, a parasite (or two) or what?!
He seems to be in fine fettle other than that though - and is desperate to get the female nesting I think - she is always quick to hiss him out of the box though!!
Doug |
10-02-2008, 05:18 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mayford, Surrey
Posts: 312
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Doug - February 19th 2002 is the earliest date we've seen so far - you can read a summary of significant dates in the Overview section in our diary. |
10-02-2008, 05:57 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: May 2007 Location: Hidden in the clover
Posts: 1,561
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elizabeth B Doug - February 19th 2002 is the earliest date we've seen so far - you can read a summary of significant dates in the Overview section in our diary. |
Now that IS early!
I'd worry about our nesters if they started nesting in February!
I'll check out your overview later, to ease my troubled brow...!
Cheers
Doug |
10-02-2008, 08:25 PM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: North Coast Cornwall
Posts: 369
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
Just looked at your diaries Elizabeth they are great. Blue tits have been looking at the box from the outside and I have hung some nesting material for them. I realize now that nesting should begin in March. I think I may have being a bit impatient.
We have moved the old letter box the great tits nested in on the other side of the house, just in case they can't get in the new box.
The old letter box used to be just 4 ft high and about 3 ft from our front door.
I used to put a note on it for the postman which read " Do not disturb nesting birds" and asked him to leave the mail in an old tin when they were nesting!! |
19-02-2008, 10:04 AM
| | Member of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: North Coast Cornwall
Posts: 369
| | | Re: Visitors to the Mayford nest boxes
My great tits are desperate to get into their box. I read on your post Elizabeth that you widened the hole to 32mm. Ours is 30mm. What did you use to do that?
I would dread going at it with a drill, or could I use a pole and sand paper?
They are pecking at it like mad, I think they would take a year to get there!! | |
