Hi Daryl, firstly, I would not put feeders anywhere near the box if you want it to be used for nesting purposes as well as roosting. When birds nest, they don't want other birds in the vicinity or likely predators when they have young so make sure you place feeders well away from the box. Secondly, the best position for a nesting box is somewhere between North and East and roughly 10ft from the ground - take a look HERE
Birds may use it for roosting purpose, particularly if it is a cold winter and they will even start looking for nesting boxes as early as February time so good luck and hope you have some residents; it will be lovely to get footage of them and be able to watch them on the camera. You don't need to add nesting materials as the birds will bring their own in. If you wish, during springtime, you can purchase natural sheeps wool which can be put in a special holder and the birds may take this to supplement their nesting materials but you really don't need to worry about this. During nesting season it is a good idea to have some live mealworms to feed the birds; this will give the nestlings and adults some much needed protein and it makes life easier for the small birds who can take in 100 caterpillars/insects a day to each chick ! The tit members work so hard to feed their young so a little help with food will be welcome, especially live mealworms during the busy breeding season. Also suet, seeds or even raw pastry will go down well. Good luck.
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Regards, Hazel
Thank you, Hazel. I did suspect that a supermarket next door to their new home might not be welcome :-)
How crucial is the North East bit? There was nowhere suitable that had an easterly aspect and still be able to run the cable into the house so I went for north facing.
Incidentally, the box with the useless camera at the old house was left on the side of the shed and, when we knew we were moving, my husband went to take it down and found a nest full of blue tit chicks in it so we left it for the new owners to enjoy.
I do hope we have success with this one. Now that I have it set up successfully I can't wait to see something in it. At the moment even a spider would be exciting!
Hi Daryl, North is certainly better than having it face South which would be too hot so if you can't move it, it should be fine. How wonderful that you had success with the box on the shed at the old house and I hope you are as lucky with this box. If a spider goes into the box the birds may follow it in hope of a meal !! Let us know how you get on eventually. We've just put our boxes back in place after cleaning them out during Autumn so they are there if the birds want to roost or nest in them. Last year our boxes had three successful Blue Tit nests (one dead chick was found when the box was cleaned out early Autumn but on the whole a very successful season) and elsewhere in the garden we had Great Tits nesting, Nuthatches, Great Spotted Woodpecker in the nearby trees plus several Robin broods, Dunnock, Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Bullfinches all with young :) and also a pair of Jays with three young. Again, I wish you every success with this new box :)
Oh, that all sounds very exciting in your garden. How lovely!
We have lots of birds visiting the garden and the robins and blackbirds are very tame and interested in my gardening activities. I am optimistic that something will find the new box inviting. I'll let you know if I have any success.
Thanks for your advice and help. Much appreciated :-)
You're very welcome Daryl and looking forward to hearing how things turn out, I'm sure you will have a resident :) so have that camera plugged in !! We haven't tried a nest cam in the box with having Great Spotted Woodpeckers around that could do serious damage to an expensive nest box camera ! and our garden is quite large so running cables more than 30 metres becomes an issue. Instead I have a hand held camera to take photos when the activity starts.
Just had a look at your flickr pictures. Some beautiful photos there! I particularly like Cyril :-)
thanks Daryl, they sure are cheeky squirrels !
The camera won’t have auto focusing unless its the best so its best to set the camera up so its back focusing not on the floor of the box, the birds will build a nest and the young will grow so best to set the focus high, do this before you put the box up you can place something in the box then adjust the focus by the small screw on the lens just loosen it and turn the Lens till you get what you want if focus.I made my own box and if things went out a little I waited till the parents were not about then slide the camera try out and turned the lens in a little, this only took a few seconds to do and I got some very nice footage.
Jim
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Here are two clips from my box.