Nest boxes

[stevecurtis]

Just Watched spring watch easter special,in it Chris Packham said you can never have too many nest boxes ,did he mean literally or how many on my acre garden?.

all the best Steve

[werdnal]

I think you can put up as many as you like, but depending on the species of birds you have and the amount of available food, not all will be used. We have a 1 acre field and garden, and have about 8 or 9 blue tit type boxes (some have slightly larger holes so will take sparrows or great tits), and owl box (so far only used by woodpigeons and an over-wintering squirrel, and a woodpecker box (been up for 2 years and not yet used despite regular GSW's visiting the birdtable).

[bobbarber]

Don`t forget that nest boxes can also prove invaluable in the Winter as roosting boxes, especially if we have another one like last Winter...Bob

[RKB]

That whole section was a bit odd. Kate was talking about how 'management' meant that woods had few nest holes these days. This is not the case - most woods have been largely abandoned for 50 years and seem to have plenty of nest holes. She also said that woodpecker holes were important - also not true. Tits avoid woodpecker holes due to the simple reason that woodpeckers can enter them, and woodpeckers are the one of the major predators of tit nests! Knotholes are common enough in live young trees, and I have found natural tit nests in trees with a DBH of less than 10 cm (most have been in trees with a DBH of 10-30 cm).

The species that overwhelmingly benefit from boxes, Great and Blue Tits, have increased hugely and aren't really in much need of nestbox help, so there's obviously plenty of nest sites for them.

Whether you can have too many rather depends. If you put up lots of boxes then you will generally increase the local numbers of Blue and Great Tits that breed. This is not necessary a good thing beyond a certain point. It can put pressure on local food resources for the chicks - in a suburban or farmland setting caterpillars are not abundant, so if more birds try and nest then it spreads out the food too thinly, and they can all rear less young overall. So it can be better for a Blue Tit pair if they are the only ones breeding in the immediate area.

In areas where food isn't limiting, increasing the number of common tits can be bad news for less common species due to increased competition. Increased numbers of Blue or Great Tits could be a factor in the decline of Marsh and Willow Tits, for example.

So more boxes is not necessarily merrier, either for the target species or their competitors. It requires a bit of thought, rather than a scattergun approach, as large-scale nest box schemes are an active management intervention that can have biological consequences.

[bobbarber]

Originally Posted by stevecurtis

Just Watched spring watch easter special,in it Chris Packham said you can never have too many nest boxes ,did he mean literally or how many on my acre garden?.

all the best Steve

I don`t think that you can have too many.As said it depends on the species in your area and the type of nest boxes,e.g.Tit boxes, open fronted, half open fronted for Blackbirds and Robins etc. Don`t forget that many nest boxes make excellent roosting places in the Winter and could be life-savers if we have another Winter like the last...Bob

[bobbarber]

Sorry about double posting, old age catching up on me ...Bob

[stevecurtis]

Thanks for the help so far,i assume that Coal ,Marsh,and Willow tits dont use nest boxes,is there a different hole size for Great and Blue tit.

all the best Steve

[RKB]

Originally Posted by stevecurtis

Thanks for the help so far,i assume that Coal ,Marsh,and Willow tits dont use nest boxes,is there a different hole size for Great and Blue tit.

all the best Steve

They do, but they are limited by territory size, not nest sites. If you put 10 boxes in a 5 ha wood then you'll likely get 10 Blue/Great tits, as their territories can be as little as 0.1 ha. But the other species have territories of >2 ha, so there would only be 1-2 pairs in the entire wood. Hence much less chance of them using a box.

[stevecurtis]

Thank you all.
all the best steve