It’s currently Nest Box Week; observed annually from 14th February, it puts the spotlight on breeding birds and encourages everyone to erect more nest boxes in their local area. We put up a couple in our garden at the start of the month, in the hope that some of our resident robins will make use of them.
Birds won’t use any old box you provide for them, different species have different requirements. Obviously, small birds need small nest boxes and large birds need bigger ones – but there’s a lot more to it than that.
Before you go out and buy a nest box… or create one, think about the kind of birds you get coming to your garden. I’d love to give a little owl a place to lay its eggs, but I’ve never seen one round here. We get lots of different garden birds because we hang lots of bird feeders. As well as the robins, we attract tits, black birds, house sparrows, siskins, bullfinches, chaffinches and nut hatches. We’ve even spotted the odd black cap and fire crest!
- Roosting pocket: £4.50, RSPB
- Sparrow colony wooden nesting box: £16.99, NOTHS
- Little owl apex nest box: £149.00, CJ Wildlife
shop nest boxes
Some of the links on our blog are affiliate links. We may receive a small commission - at no cost to you - if you click through and make a purchase.
Prices & links correct at time of publication.