Although National Bird box week was earlier in the year: (14th-21st February), putting up a bird box at any time of year can be a great help to local birds.

With natural nesting sites being lost to new housing developments, old buildings and holes being repaired and woodland sites diminishing, we can make a huge difference in offering much homes to birds in our gardens.

At Flatford, we have seen blue tits and great tits use our nest boxes and a few spotted woodpeckers showing an interest in the past too!  Of course, we won’t know who’s taken up residence (if any have) this spring but it’s good to know the bird boxes are there for them.

At this time of year in early April, most of the nesting garden birds like tits, sparrows, wrens and nuthatches will have already chosen their site for breeding but you never know when a late-comer may be searching for a site. Robins are breeding from April to August so could also potentially discover a robin box put up at this time to use this season. Putting up a small bird box now also offers plenty of time for our all-year garden birds to become aware of it as a potential shelter for the winter.

House Martins return to the UK from Africa in late March and April and Swifts will be arriving in early May. Installing a special box for either of these species right now could be a very much appreciate place of refuge after the long migration.

There is lots of information online about different types of bird boxes, how to make them and where to position them and they are also for sale on the RSPB website, many featuring special offers at the moment.

https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/INTERSHOP/web/WFS/RSPB-rspbUK-Site/en_GB/b2c-responsive/GBP/ViewParametricSearch-SimpleOfferSearch

Having bird food in the garden can attract birds to discover new homes but don’t hang feeders directly in front of nest boxes as the continuous activity right “on the doorstep” is likely to be a deterrent so keep a good distance between feeders and nest boxes.

It’s one of the great joys of gardening for wildlife; to one day see a nest box you’ve erected being used.