A place to learn, share and inspire others to create a haven for you and for wildlife.
Sign In or Register to join the conversation
A few months back i posted threads about blue tits that had taken residence in our sparrow terrace. The birds left with no signs of chicks. Today we cleaned the terrace out. THe birds had built a nest in all 3 comparments. One comparment contained 5 unhatched eggs, the second 2 unhatched and the third was empty. Gutted always next year.
Oh how sad to discover but as you say always next year. Lets hope they are sucessful then
Of all creatures, man is the most detestable, he is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~ Mark Twain
Hi madness
That's very sad, but I like your positive attitude :-)
I see that you started this thread twice. You can delete the duplicate one by going into it yourself and clicking the delete button. :-)
Best wishes Chris
Click Here to see my photos
So sad indeed to hear that the Blue Tits have not succeeded for whatever reason.
As you say there is next year and let it be the best one for you and your Blue Tits boxes
Keep us posted now
Regards
Kathy and Dave
Hi Madness,
I'm sorry to hear that, and better luck next time.
I also have a 3 compartment sparrow terrace with a camera in the middle box. I have a bluetit rooster in this camera compartment. He's been there since the winter apart from 7 weeks in spring when he vanished, presumably to his wife's nest. He came back though and is still there. I haven't yet cleaned out the other 2 compartments and have no idea what I will find.
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Hello, I remember your original post and did hope the blue tits would be successful, I am so sorry. You did say the birds were building nests in at least two of the compartments. I would imagine they were young birds and it was their first attempt at breeding although I am no expert! It sounds as if the female was sitting on each nest of eggs in turn with the result that none hatched. I have never heard of this before.................but I bet someone on here has.
As you say, better luck next year. I did find this fascinating yet baffling bird behaviour, thank you for letting us know the outcome.
Kind regards Jane.
madness said: A few months back i posted threads about blue tits that had taken residence in our sparrow terrace. The birds left with no signs of chicks. Today we cleaned the terrace out. THe birds had built a nest in all 3 comparments. One comparment contained 5 unhatched eggs, the second 2 unhatched and the third was empty. Gutted always next year.
Can you explain what a terrace is please? My blue-tit box is a standard stand-alone RSPB design with a 28mm hole. I always thought that birds do not like other nest near theirs because of competition for food. I have a sparrow box exactly the same design but with a 31mm hole. The box is at the other end of the garden. They always keep to their own boxes and have taken to metrication without complaint.
If it seems a good idea why not give it a go.
Hello James, there is a link below. Sparrows like to nest in colonies, unlike many of our garden visitors.
http://shopping.rspb.org.uk/p/Nestboxes/Sparrow_terrace_nest_box.htm
Hi Jef
Great link and it makes it interesting to know about the life and times of Sparrows - and their communial habits
We have thought many times of buying a box ourselves but never got around to buying one
Have you got one or used one yourself at all?
I bought a terrace a few years ago. Unfortunately we have not had any sparrows in our garden for about 8 years, until this year, we now have 4 or 5 (hooray!).
I think I wrote a post about Great tits using the terrace one year. They successfully raised a brood and when I cleaned the terrace in October found they had used one compartment as a nest and another as an "en-suite" toilet. It saved the parents energy I suppose.
It will be interesting to see if the sparrows use it next spring, [ I am hoping they stay around ].