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Over the winter, members of the group met to clean out our nest boxes and to count how many of them were nested in in 2021. The boxes require cleaning each year to prepare them for re-use by removing old nesting material and ensuring the box is pest and parasite free.
At the time, we had 16 boxes with a mix of types: those with holes of 32-35mm, boxes with holes of 25-28mm and open-fronted boxes. More information about the birds each caters for is here.
In 2021, eight of the 16 boxes were nested in, scattered across the various locations in the Green. Evenly split between 32mm and 28mm boxes, all contained full nests. It's probable that most of the occupants were blue and great tits. The used boxes were all boxes that had had evidence of previous use - with either full or incomplete nests found inside in 2020.
None of the four open-fronted boxes (suitable for song thrush, blackbirds and robins, amongst others) have yet been used. These were quite difficult to locate, as they need to be reasonably well hidden, and suitable places were few and far between. Additionally, for protection from cats and vandalism, we placed them very high in the trees, and some species, such as robins, prefer locations closer to the ground. However, as an experiment we exchanged the fronts of two boxes, swapping an open fronted box on a tree in an open location with a 32mm hole fronted box in woodland nearest to Coldharbour Rd.
In fact, a 50% occupancy is a positive outcome, as occupancy of 60-70% of nest boxes in a given area is regarded as saturation. Additionally, some boxes not used for nesting may be used for overnight roosting, or to store food, so fulfil valuable functions. Occupancy figures will naturally vary from year to year.
A humorous moment came with the cleaning of the box in a sycamore tree near the bowling club corner of the tennis courts. This box contained a nest beautifully festooned with pink wool as shown here. Last year, the very same nest box was occupied with a nest very similarly adorned!
In the addition to the clean-out, we've also added four more boxes to the Green's complement. Two are house-shaped with 28mm and 32mm entry holes, and we placed these in trees just inside the Metford Road allotments, but still visible from the Green. This is because the many factors that have to be taken into account when erecting a large number of bird boxes (direction, height, slope, type of box, surrounding vegetation) make it a fairly complex business, and we've already exploited most of the suitable, and accessible sites on trees in the Green. One of these boxes is in a sycamore tree just next to the entrance to Metford Road allotments from Redland Green; the other is in a maple tree near to the base of the steps going up to Metford Road.
We've also added to the variety of boxes hosted in the Green. A new sparrow terrace is located in the woodland between St Oswald's and Cossins Roads, and a starling box - much larger than any of the other boxes in the Green, and with a larger 45mm entry hole - is located in a plane tree opposite and facing the entrance to the bowling club.
Their purchase was enabled by a donation from a private individual.
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