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Hi Everyone, I have a very smart blue/white nesting box which was occupied in the Spring by Great Tits. They stayed for about 8 weeks and have now vacated the box. I have since seen sparrows 'viewing' the property by perching on the hole and looking in and then they fly away too. Does anyone know if nesting boxes need to be cleaned out before the next tenants move in or are they not that fussy. Any advice with this is welcomed.
Regards Suzy
Yes, you should remove the old nest as they tend to have parasites. Also, there could be a dead nestling left behind. I suspect its a bit late for sparrows now but you might be lucky.
The best time to clean out nesting boxes is the autumn, leave it until October!
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
That's helpful information Ian. I am always in two minds about opening up the boxes after the first brood. Like Suzy I often get different birds nesting, one after the other. I would be nervous about lifting the lid, just in case I mistimed my visit and frightened a parent bird away, so I leave them to it to decide if the nest is useable or not. I am sure castaway is right about parasites or a dead nestling, but I suspect the next family would just give that nest box a miss. I have had sparrows follow great tits in the same next box this year and they all seemed to do well. Good luck with your late sparrows. There is possibly still time....
bye for now
Hi Castaway, thank you for this. I did take the box down and it was full of earwigs and other creepy crawlies, not very nice. However, there was not a lot of nesting material in there just three or four little twigs, I had expected more. Thank you again.