I bought my husband a nesting box with camera for his birthday 2 years ago. Only this year have we had any activity apart from spiders! In an effort to attract birds, hubby turned the box 45 degrees and drilled a hole lower down in the box, with a view to covering the one further up later. However, a pair of great tits have now begun using the box and are using the uppermost hole to enter/exit. I presume it would cause them to abandon the nest if we did anything now. Will this be a problem? They have only started building the nest today.
Can you provide a pic of this nest, is it likely that any eggs or hatchlings could fall out ... legally you shouldn't interfere with nesting birds ... see what others say!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
The hole you can see in the photo is the lower one; there is another higher up and out of view on camera, which they use to enter and exit. I doubt very much we will disturb the nest at all. This is more for future reference.
Thank you for the pic, we now can see what you mean, it will be interesting to see just how high the nest will be! My personal concern is regarding the likelihood of predation of youngsters by other birds!
As stated, the lower hole could well attract predators, hence the reason for the higher one.
A recent photo showing the completed nest and mum has laid 5 eggs. If my calculations are correct, they should begin hatching any time from 3 May. So far so good!
Goid news! The 5 baby great tits have continued to grow and are preparing to fledge. Just a few more days now, I reckon.
Many thanks for good news update!
Pleased to say our 5 little great tits fledged after 20 days. It's our Wedding Annniversary so a lovely Anniversary gift. I had a feeling it would be today. Video for anyone interested.
How lovely, so pleased the brood successfully fledged, what an unusual and special wedding anniversary gift with a great video to treasure
A happy outcome for your nest. The last wee fellow had a bit of a struggle after his mates left, to get out. A lovely anniversary pressie for you both, thanks for the video
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.