Boxing frenzy

In gardening for wildlife, as well as there being the right times to do things and the wrong times, there are some things which I think are worth doing even if you've missed the perfect slot.

So, having been bound up in pond creation for most of the last six months, one job of mine that has slipped past its prescribed timeframe has been putting up my new birdboxes.

Valentine's Day is said to be the prime time, so I am four weeks late, but with birds still prospecting for the ideal home, last weekend I knuckled down to get them up.

One of the difficulties of putting boxes up is that they do require a bit of ladder work. As this new tit box is going onto a live tree, I used wire to strap it up (hence the goggles). I'd made the box with a backing plate that juts above and below the box, giving a good anchor point of the wire, which I just wrap around and twist at the ends.

This Starling box, however, is going onto the 20-foot trunk of a leylandii that I asked my tree surgeon to clear of branches but leave standing, so I'm using hex-headed screws to attach this one into the dead wood, so much easier than normal screws.

And for the Robins and Wrens, I've given them four simple boxes screwed onto the wall beneath a curtain of Ivy.

By the end of the day, result! The tit box was being checked out by a pair of Blue Tits, who then ambitiously moved on to check out the Starling box (clearly looking for a mansion rather than an apartment).

If you have a birdbox sat unerected, my recommendation would be to get it up now rather than leave it to collect cobwebs for another year. You never know, there may be some garden visitor still on the housing ladder just crying out for that last minute accommodation.