I'll need a big blue tit for these boxes...

Regular readers will know that I have just had major tree work done in my new garden - 30 soaring leylandii that were poised to crush my neighbours' property have had to be removed, given that four had already fallen in the gales last winter.

It still leaves me 350 trees and shrubs in the garden, and that includes some lovely semi-mature trees such as three English oaks, a small-leaved lime and a walnut.

What I don't have are trees that are old enough to have rot holes and hollow trunks, so any hole-nesting woodland bird is going to need a bit of help.

So, with my tree surgeons here, it seemed the perfect opportunity to use their tree-climbing skills and brawn to put up some more unusual and chunky nestboxes.

Here is the first to going up, a Tawny Owl box, with John, the tree surgeon's 65-year old assistant, making enthusiastic flapping motions and owl noises at the foot of the tree!

Tawny Owl boxes mimic hollow tree trunks, and are either erected vertically (as here) or slung on the underside of a branch.

You do need to be careful with Tawny Owls breeding in a garden as they can be vicious in defence of their young, but my box is high in a spruce and should be fine.

My second box is an open-fronted box.

I've been ambitious here because it is technically a Kestrel box, and I did have a Kestrel hover over my vegetable patch at Christmas so it is worth a try.

It is possible that both boxes will get used by Jackdaws (better there than down my chimney!) or possibly Stock Doves - we'll see.

But I guess it's that golden rule of giving nature a home - fulfill their Home Needs and see what comes!