Unwelcome guests in owl box

[Dogghound]

Well sort of unwelcome.....

I have been meaning to post this for a while, but kept on forgetting.



We usually have trouble with stock doves and jackdows taking over barn owl nest boxes but this year we had an interesting visitor to one of them, hornets! These large wasps have only recently spread north into this part of the country. Hopefully they wont make too much of a habit of doing this.

This nest was left until the hornets became inactive, and removed from the box. Nest boxes do seem quite good for wasps and I regularly find smaller nests in boxes but have never found one like this. Hopefully it will be used by owls next year.

[tigertom]

Thats some nest would not like to have remove one that size
Some thing I do get asked to do for my angling club now and then.
If they are a problem I much prefer to close any fishing pegs that are affected pegs and leave the wasps to get on with it.
MIKE

[poacher113]

i have experienced nest box invasions with the common wasp,lil blighters!

[Janec]

Wow, amazing what they can do with a bit of chewed up wood, I've never seen a hornet's nest.
We had a big wasp nest in an outbuilding last year. After the wasps had left we left it in the belief (probably mistaken), that they won't build a nest near an existing one. Glad we did, this year a wren pecked a hole in the side, filled it with moss and raised a brood. I think they've tried to use it for roosting this autumn but sadly the bottom has fallen out.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Janec

Glad we did, this year a wren pecked a hole in the side, filled it with moss and raised a brood. I think they've tried to use it for roosting this autumn but sadly the bottom has fallen out.

Fantastic, I have never heard of this behaviour before, thanks for sharing.

[King Edward]

About 3 or 4 years ago we had Great Spotted Woodpeckers nesting in one of our garden conifers, and the following year the hole was used by Hornets. The year after that the hole was taken over by Great Tits (with the woodpeckers nesting in a new hole slightly higher up the tree), although that's not quite the same as nesting in a free-standing wasps' nest.

[Janec]

That's a very useful tree you have there King Edward. It's interesting how species help provide habitats for other species even if it is unintentional.
We have a very small piece of woodland (probably too grand a word for it), and we were thinking of removing the conifers and just leaving the native species as we didn't think they were a lot of use for wildlife. Look's like we'll have to think again

[aeshna5]

Though native species in general will support more wildlife, conifers often get an unfair press. A small number will provide shelter in harsh weather + quite a few species including Collared Dove, Song Thrush, Goldcrest, Coal Tit + various finches will use them for nesting.

There are also quite a few moths that utilise them as well as other invertebrates such as Juniper Shieldbug to name one.

[Janec]

Thanks aeshna5,
we'll certainly take that onboard before we start lopping.
There are several that are in a very sorry state and maybe we'll just remove those.
We have one or two large specimen firs in other parts of the garden and a couple of years ago were lucky enough to have a goldcrest nest in one.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Janec

Thanks aeshna5,
we'll certainly take that onboard before we start lopping.
There are several that are in a very sorry state and maybe we'll just remove those.
We have one or two large specimen firs in other parts of the garden and a couple of years ago were lucky enough to have a goldcrest nest in one.

Selective removal would probably be the best solution, removing inferior specimens. Your firs sound good.