Why arent blue tits entering my box?

can't quite make out the orientation of the bird box as looks more angled unless that's the roof  - do you have an outside photo of it and where it is secured.     Very much depends on the position, which way a box is facing and other criteria.    Tit birds will often inspect many boxes before choosing one.   

The box isnt angled it just has some room for the camera. The direction its facing is northeast which i know isnt ideal but it was the best i could do with my backyard layout.

Last year we had wasps make a nest, I removed them when they were dormant in winter and today i saw another wasp enter again 

Thanks for the photo Bupsko,   looks different design to a standard box which tit birds would use (I understand this was handmade that way to facilitate the camera)  and not sure how it is secured unless it is attached to the pole ?    Bird boxes must be rigid when fitted so they can't move.    The nest hole should be preferably 32 mm to allow different tit members access or other small bird species.    Between North and East where you have placed it is an ideal direction.     It may be the birds are put off by the design or nest hole too small or if the box isn't firmly secured;   as I say, Tit birds will inspect many different boxes before settling on one to roost or nest.    Other members may have other ideas/opinions.    

Thanks for your input hazel it seems that my nest box is ideal in every way then lol i guess excepting the actual shape of the house. Diameter is 32mm, orientation is good, it is fixed to a pole in the fence with 2 zipties and it doesnt move with the wind. Maybe well have more luck next year.

My suspicion is the hole is too big for blue tits, and the box is too big. If it is 32mm entrance (25mm is recommended for blue tits), the drop from entrance to the floor is quite big. Even if blue tits do eventually nest in it, their presence may attract a larger species who would then potentially take over the box.

This was my biggest fear since i made the hole big enough for sparrows to get in (i didnt expect to attract any blue tits) but so far the only species that has popped in have been tits

i made the box after this one i found on etsy, pretty sure the dimensions are the same

https://www.etsy.com/de-en/listing/1200571525/green-feathers-wi-fi-hd-camera-side-view?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=all_megafeed&utm_custom1=_k_Cj0KCQjws-S-BhD2ARIsALssG0bXYdV7-UJjnGjuHqYh0DeWs5mrJnnzXXdQiMrMknoCOUOQyev3EHQaAuv6EALw_wcB_k_&utm_content=go_21718541476_165995455805_714030245234_pla-293946777986_m__1200571525ende_704667981&utm_custom2=21718541476&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjws-S-BhD2ARIsALssG0bXYdV7-UJjnGjuHqYh0DeWs5mrJnnzXXdQiMrMknoCOUOQyev3EHQaAuv6EALw_wcB

At what date should I abandon all hope and take it down/redesign you think?

As there is no nesting being attempted, seems reasonable to take down. If you would like house sparrows in there, and there are sparrows already in your area, your best bet is to locate the box under the eaves. They seem to go for any cavities/holes at that height.

HAZY said:

The nest hole should be preferably 32 mm to allow different tit members access or other small bird species.

Sincere apologies if the advice above appeared incorrect but I suggested 32mm to encourage a wider range of species that may use the nest box which hadn't so far attracted any birds.    I have always believed 25mm is too small (in some cases) even for blue tits whose chicks can often struggle to exit a 25mm box upon fledging.  I had to open up the front of a nest box once when I saw one chick couldn't squeeze out after around 4 hours (with parent birds abandoning the last chick) monitoring the fledging activity from the house after which I only used 28mm and 32mm     I'm not suggesting that a  28mm nest box hole isn't suitable as we had at least 8 nest boxes with 28mm hole in our last woodland garden and even the "chubbiest " blue tit managed to squeeze out of it ok.  

 Having said that a pal of mine and long term experienced bird ringer (who is licensed for schedule 1 birds)  goes even further and says,  quote:   " All nest boxes should be sold with a 32mm hole. Anything less is selective and useless. Either you want to encourage a wide range of species, Tree Sparrows, Great Tit, Pied Flycatcher and Redstarts never go for a 28mm holed box and a 32 mm accommodates Blue Tits "         That was his general advice and not area specific.       He was referring to standard nest boxes and not the box shape mentioned on here and agree the drop from entrance to floor is too deep. 

  I had success as I've mentioned with 28mm nest box hole and 6 nest boxes with 32mm hole which included the oval shaped 32mm stone-crete boxes which was occupied by blue tits and which fledged successfully.     Personally and in my very humble opinion  !!   I would never use a 25mm nest box hole after seeing blue tit fledglings struggling or failing to exit.      Maybe providing all those live mealworms the chicks put on excess weight before fledging !     Our oak/beech woodland garden produced some very "chubby" chicks !!  
   

This was a 28mm nest box hole ...... and it wasn't the largest chick !

Hazy, your advice wasn't incorrect. I think you are remembering a point a made a week or two ago re some advice being offered that is wrong. Your post isn't an example of that. Your opinion is just as valid as anyone else's opinion, incl mine. It is facts that are wrong that I disagree with. Advice offered with, or at least based on, incorrect facts.

Re 25mm, my woodcrete nestbox has an entrance diameter of 26mm. The wooden box put up by the previous homeowner was 25mm, though a GSW has made the diameter inconsistent now. Both have been used successfully several times, and the blue tits flipflop, so either could be used each year, but never both. There is also a 32mm woodcrete box. That has never been used by blue tits.

25mm is recommended by BTO and many other bird charities etc. It is sold by RSPB etc. I agree and accept it is possible and factual that sometimes 25mm is too small. I often refer to a blue tit from my childhood that was the size of a great tit that came to the feeders/peanut bags one Winter. I can't comment on whether overfeeding is an issue.

I am afraid I totally disagree with your ringer friend. It goes totally against basic conservation and that element does go against facts. If you want to help marsh tits for example, which need all the help they can get, you do not exclude safe boxes for them, and instead provide nestboxes more suited to their direct competition. It is widely proven and accepted that larger species can and do take over boxes from smaller species. Only a year or two ago, I posted a photo of a house sparrow that tried to take over an active blue tit box on the house here....and got trapped in the entrance, blocking it, preventing feeding adults from getting in.

It is also unrealistic of the ringer friend to suggest the average nestbox purchaser is going to attract redstarts, pied flycatcher and tree sparrows. The public needs to be able to buy/make suitable boxes that bring some sort of success. Otherwise, enthusiasm could be very temporary and time & money wasted. Suggesting only 32mm entrance holes be sold is against the science and reality IMO. It implies, taking it to the next level, that if I put up a box designed for starlings, it'll get any species nesting in there up to and incl the size of starlings. I would like to put it to the ringer friend that what I will get is starlings and nothing else. (not that there is anything wrong with that, as they need help).

Entrances do need to be as small as poss, to prevent larger species getting in, so the ideal size should be a bit of a squeeze to get in and out. For chicks to be unable to get out, it suggests they're bigger than feeding adults. Young birds successfully squeezing out is an ideal outcome.

Thanks Rob,   I am always very interested to hear the various opinions and explanations on topics as it gives a wider view, raises points perhaps we weren't aware of and agree with many of the valid points you raised.     To be honest I was surprised about the 32mm suggestion from my pal and rejecting the 28mm which we have had great success with.    Yes, absolutely, some chicks can be larger than the adults as we've had one or two fail to exit easily or at all and after waiting a long period monitoring and ensuring the adults were not returning to coax it out I quickly unlatched half of the front of the box and retreated back indoors to enable it to join its family which it did.     I'll still never be a fan of 25mm !!   We were lucky to have blue tits use the larger "woodcrete" box with 32mm which being oval shaped was oversized for them as it was intended primarily for the nuthatches or great tits.    Talking of woodpecker predation on wooden boxes, the quarter inch wire mesh in my photo (which was part of Lancaster University study) worked incredibly well and after two previous wooden nest boxes being wrecked by the GSW's we had 100% success once the mesh had been put around the sides and beneath the box and a metal hole plate in place.     it is an ongoing learning curve and I appreciate all opinions given.  

One of the most comical moments when a blue tit chose the larger oval shaped 32mm woodcrete box was when double-decker nestlings appeared at the entrance/exit hole. !!    Yes it was Nuthatches box previous year but the blue tit got there first that year.