How To... Put Up A Nest Box

Nesting sites in domestic gardens are in short supply. Help our feathered friends find a home by putting up a nest box now

- Graham Rice

WHY put up nest boxes? Don’t our gardens have enough trees in which the birds can nest? Well, actually, no.

Birds that prefer to nest in shrubs and climbers are fairly well provided for in our gardens – although they’ll always welcome more pyracanthas, ivies and unpruned evergreens. It’s the birds that nest in holes in tree trunks or stumps, and in crevices in walls that find garden nest sites in short supply – how many holes are there in your garden trees?

So blue tits, great tits and most other titmice will appreciate a nest box in your garden as will nuthatches, pied flycatchers, and tree and house sparrows. They all need a cosy rainproof box in which to build, accessed by a small hole in the front.