Birdhouses are best!

Yesterday was fair weather, so I decided to put up a selection of birdhouses.

There was a sparrow triple terraced house, a single sparrow house, and a swallow house(these look less like a house and more like a bowl with a flat side).

Various suitable sites were chosen and decided upon, based on weather, sunlight and ease of access for predators. Finally they were drilled and screwed into position, to hopefully provide the garden birdlife with safe places to lay eggs and raise their young ones.

In a short amount of time, the birds will be looking for suitable nesting sites, where they can begin the arduous task of building.

If you are looking for a birdhouse for Blue or Coal tits, these have a 28mm hole in them, that size is big enough for the Blue tits to enter, but is too small for Great tits or sparrows to move in. Unfortunately, if a Blue or Coal tit begins nesting in a place and the Great tits prefer it, they just move in!

If you do happen to have a 32mm hole into the birdhouse, but wanted to exclude Sparrows and Great tits then there are metal plates with a 28mm hole in them available, these reduce the opening and allow the smaller birds in only.

Once the house is up, leave it be and if you are lucky, the empty home will become the new residence for a very lucky bird!

In the meantime, keep those feeders clean and water topped up in the bird baths, put half a brick in the centre so that it has less chance of freezing.

Take care everyone

Scott - Preston Gardener (Marshall's Mowing and Maintenance)