Tree care for nests

A few canny tricks can make trees more appealing to your feathered friends at nesting time, as Bob explains

- Bob Flowerdew

ON a sunny day, scan bare shrubs, bushy trees and thorny climbers for birds’ nests. Most likely, you’ll discover those of blackbirds – the classic of twigs, grasses and roots twined into a bowl, which they almost sit on rather than in.

Other birds make nests in all sorts of places, but seldom use nest boxes (most nest boxes are too small for many birds). So while hanging more nest boxes is a nice idea, we can also help by making more sites suitable for all those other birds to build upon.