We had a great day today at Windlaw Farm putting up bird nesting boxes that we’d built earlier in the week with the help of the kind folks from Starling Learning. The boxes had been made specifically for Tree Sparrows (entrance hole diameter 28mm) and they were being put up in an area that has seen an increase in the Tree Sparrow population of late.
Recent research suggests that boxes should be placed fairly close together to create a kind of colony situation whereas previously it was thought boxes should be spaced further apart.
Here is a link to the RSPB web page which has more information about Tree Sparrows Passer montanus
We choose several larger ash trees to put the boxes in and also drove some 7 ft wooden stakes into the existing hedgerows and placed boxes on these also.
The boxes were designed to have a removable base so that the old nesting material can be cleaned out after the breeding season has finished. This means the boxes are far more likely to be used next season. They also have a nice waterproof top which will hopefully stop the worst of the Scottish weather reaching the birds inside.
We used the RSPB’s design for building our nest boxes which can be found here
And since it was such a lovely winter’s day we couldn’t resist the temptation to make a few snow angels 😉