What did you find during your Autumn nest box clean?

Most of you are probably already aware that October is the month that we recommend for nest box maintenance and cleaning, its a time of year where nesting has finished and birds are not yet as reliant on the boxes for winter roosting sites.

A quick recap on what we recommend you do!

• Watch the box for a while just to check nobody is home and before you open it, give it a gentle tap. When you open the hatch, be prepared for spiders, insects and occasionally woodmice to jump out! Also be prepared to find eggs that didn't hatch or chicks that didn't survive.
• When the box is open the first task is to remove the material inside, you may want to wear gardening gloves for this just in case there are any beasties like mites or ticks in the material. You can leave the nest and it's contents to decompose naturally under a hedge or shrub.
• If the box is dirty inside take it down, give it a good scrub with soapy water and a rigid brush, rinse it thoroughly and then allow it to air dry.
• Once the box is dry, pop the box back into position and get yourself a cuppa!

Fingers crossed it will be occupied again, if not over winter as a roost then in the spring as a nesting site!

If you have cleaned your nest box recently and have found something interesting, we would really like to see your pictures!