Yay first bird box occupants (and a question or 2)

[~T~]

Ok so I know it's no biggie to most but blue tits are nesting in one of the boxes I put up this year and this is the first time ever I've had birds nest in my poxy wee garden so im happy

Now the nest is positioned near my back door on a section of fence that has a tree growing sort of in front of it (I thought this would give them some cover from predators and the elements). I hadn't really bargained for anything using it so had been getting on with doing the garden up a bit. Most things can wait till the chicks fledge though I have setup one of those mini walk in greenhouses for tomatos, peppers etc and I need to water them at least once a day. The greenhouse is on the opposite side of the garden (about 8-10 feet from the box) though it does directly face the box, would this disturb them?

Also I've seen a sparrow following the blue tits around as they enter with nesting material. From my bedroom/kitchen window the box is just out of view so I can't see of it is going into the box after them. Would it be trying to steal the nesting material or what?

Thanks!

[Kreacha]

Well pleased for you - how exciting!!

[~T~]

Originally Posted by Kreacha

Well pleased for you - how exciting!!

Thanks

[werdnal]

Congrats on you new tenants!

I would have thought using your garden as normal will not disturb them unduly. After all, they have chosen to nest there, with your usual comings and goings, and that didn't put them off did it?

As for the sparrow, they may even have intentions on the box themselves. So long as the hole in the box is only large enough for the blue tits, it should be a problem, but one of our "camera" boxes had a larger hole, and one year, we had a successful brood of great tits, followed by sparrows who moved in about 2 weeks after the GT's fledged - so 2 for the price of one!.

Keep us posted on developments!

[RKB]

Watering your greenhouse wont be a problem.

The only time that disturbance is an issue for e.g. Blue Tits is if you have a BBQ or soemthing and camp out next to the box for the whole day preventing them getting in for an hour or more. Especially when they're feeding young. But if you keep an eye out for adult birds, they'll call agitatedly when you're preventing them getting into the box. If you hear that, just move away.

Boxes on fences aren't generally a good idea, as cats can drop onto them from the top of the fence and fish out the chicks when they hear them.

[Pigeon feather]

I'm very pleased for you! I too have blue tits nesting for the first time in a box we had set up last year, we have a little camera inside and can watch the birds which is great! they have been brooding for a week now and we expect hatching to start in a week, our box is only 10ft from the front door and we have been going about our business as normal with no problem we also have a sparrow nest box with a camera and their chicks have already hatched we can hear them but we can't see a thing as they have covered the lens with grasses!

[~T~]

Thanks guys. The positioning on the fence issue I think should be ok as the tree grows along the top so would be very hard for a cat to climb onto. Though I did have a very persistent cat visiting during the winter so I could probably position some spikey branches along the top too.

[~T~]

Aww it looks like they may have abandoned the nest box as I've seen no activity over the last few days. I hope it wasnt me who disturbed them. If they have abandoned it halfway through building should I leave it or remove whats in there? Do other tits or birds ever start adding to a half made nest or what? I'll be sure to leave it at least a week just in case.

[RKB]

They might be laying, or incubating, during which you'll see very little of them for several weeks, until the young hatch.

[~T~]

Possibly though I only saw them building for a couple of days.