A Place to Nest and Shelter

A place to nest and shelter

Nest boxes are a great way to create a really friendly, welcoming environment for your garden birds. Most of us think of putting them up in spring for the nesting season, but they actually make an ideal shelter at other times of the year.

Introducing nest boxes in autumn helps in two ways. They provide a safe space away from inclement weather and also encourage small birds to become familiar with them and therefore more likely to choose them as a nesting spot at the start of the year.

Here’s a helpful and handy factfile on nesting boxes and where to position them:

Where to put your nest box

• If your garden is quite exposed and unprotected by surrounding trees or buildings, angle your nest box so that the entrance is pointing towards the north or east to help hide it away from prevailing winds and rain. You should also tilt the box slightly downwards so prevent rain from entering.

• If you have more than one nest box, take care to position them with plenty of space between  – too close together and squabbles and aggressive behaviour between neighbours can occur.

• Put open-fronted nest boxes on a wall of fence that has plenty of shrubs and creeping plants growing against it. Take care that a small hole nest box doesn’t get covered by greenery though.

• Make sure that your nest box is sited in a place that cannot be reached by predators such as cats and squirrels.

• Birds are happier when nest boxes are put in a quiet spot away from feeding stations with high levels of visitors.

Which type of nest box?

• Open fronted nest boxes are the choice of birds such as robins, pied wag tails and wrens. They have a larger entrance and putting them on a fence with plenty of climbing plants gives them a layer of added security.

• Nest boxes with a small round hole are preferred by blue tits, coal tits, house and tree sparrows, and pied flycatchers. These small entrances deter larger, more aggressive birds and keep a safe space for the smaller birds to build their nests and raise young.

The choice of entrance mimics the cavities that birds would naturally use fof nesting in the wild.

Food 4 Wild Birds has a great selection of nest boxes for you to support your garden birds.

Shop nest boxes here