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Hi there,
I am a newbie and a complete novice although I do like to watch and feed the garden birds.
We've had a little nestbox up for around a year and it has recently become home to a pair of bluetits who have been coming and going building their nest for about a week now.
Just looking for some advice. My garden is quite small and I have 2 young very noisy children and with the current situation we are trying to make the most of the lovely weather and use the garden without scaring our new visitors away. Also my washing line is rather close to the nesting box.
Every morning I see the female (i think) coming and going building her nest. But by afternoon when the kids are let loose and we are using the garden she disappears.
Any advice? I really dont want to frighten them away but also need to spent time in the garden. Is there certain times of the day that we should avoid the garden? Sorry if i sound silly, just looking for advice
Claire
Hello Claire and welcome to the community forum. Birds like Blue Tits may inspect several nesting site possibilities before opting to start building their nest so the presence of the washing line and activity in the garden would have been there before the Blue Tit chose to start building her nest. However, I would advise that washing is hung out on the line as far away from the box as possible and just advise the children if they are playing out to not throw balls (for example) around the immediate area where the nest box is, maybe instead including having them involved in bird watching as you say you already have feeders and the joys of watching a busy bird flying in and out of the box, bringing in nesting materials and having a read at THIS BLUE TIT diary of events which they may find interesting if they are old enough to understand and not toddlers. By the way, always ensure feeders are not too close to a nesting box as Blue Tits are very territorial and won't tolerate other birds coming too close to their nesting box and it will detract any would be predators away from the box if there is no food really close by. All in all, I would say the Blue Tit will continue with her nest building unless the box itself is directly threatened and will put up with some regular activity in the garden. The reason for her going absent for a while (until she is sitting on the eggs) is normal but just try to minimise as much as you can the noise level to moderate and keep as far away from the box as is possible in a small garden. Good luck and happy bird watching and hopefully you will see some lovely offspring around beginning of June. The Blue Tit diary will give you some timings on egg laying, hatching, fledgling.
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Regards, Hazel