Photo credit: starling by Eleanor Bentall
It’s National Nest Box Week! With so many of us seeking solace in nature to help lift our spirits through lockdown, lots of you are asking us how you can encourage birds to nest in your gardens this year.
Nest boxes have huge benefits for some of our struggling garden species and we know that watching our feathered friends raise new families can provide hours of enjoyment too, so we’ve put together a simple guide to understanding, creating and protecting your local nesting habitats below.
Protect the natural nest sites you already have in your garden
Photo credit: hedge nest by Ben Andrew
This is the time of year where we start thinking about spring cleans; tidying those hedges, sorting out the guttering and making our homes look fresh and new…but many birds return home to the same place year on year and what might seem a mess to us, can be the perfect home to them!
Putting up new nest boxes
Photo credit: spotted flycatcher by Andy Hay
Keeping nests safe in the wider countryside
Photo credit: nest protection by Ben Andrew
While there is lots of awareness around the need for nest boxes, many people don’t realise that some birds nest right at our feet! Heathlands, farmlands, moorlands, meadows and shingle shores can all be vitally important places for some of our most threatened ground nesting birds, like nightjar, little terns, skylarks and hen harriers.