How much space ?

[watchman]

I have a couple of nesting boxes for bluetits and one for robins. I got my first nesting pair of tits this year after moving the boxes where there was more cover. However, my garden is fairly small and these birds are very territorial, or so I believe.

Question is - is there enough space in a small garden for more than one nesting box or am I wasting my time ? And will robins and tits co-exist peacefully or do they get territorial with other species ?

Any views/answers folks ?

[paulchandler6]

Robins and Tits should co-exist OK. The best way is to try and see. Depends also on the environment around you for them to feed in.

Paul

[ron1863]

I've never seen tits and robins fighting but have seen robins fight with other robins, same with tits.
I think they are only defending their own territory from their own kind and are fairly tolerant of other species. Just try it and see what happens.

[goosey]

Last winter the Robin that visits our small garden, suddenly began to attack a pair of Dunnocks. Every time the dunocks came in to feed the robin would appear and start on them. The Dunnocks didn't seem too daunted by this and just seemed to put up with it for a few months. At the moment the three of them are getting on with no trouble.

[SweetRocket]

Had exactly the same experience here, the Robins very aggressive towards the Dunnocks but it didn't put them off, they just came back for more battering, they are very resilient little birds!!

[JeffH]

We've had Robins, Blue Tits (2 pairs), Great Tits, Blackbirds and Wrens all nesting in our garden (albeit larger than average) at the same time and with no signs of aggression between species.

In fact, this year a pair of Robins nested in an ivy clad pillar on our patio with wrens nesting immediately above and less then 3 feet away in the ivy on a beam of our pergola.

Here again and although Robins are very territorial and can be very aggressive with their own kind, the two species seemed to get along just fine.

Jeff

[paddy]

Robins seem intolerant of other birds with similar feeding patterns/foraging behaviour - as they're often in the same areas of the garden as dunnocks, that seems to be where the trouble starts. I've seen one have a go at a blackbird as well - the dunnock took it better than he did!