Give a bird a home

National Nest Box Week

14-21 February 2019

National Nest Box Week takes place every year from 14-21 February and it’s a chance for you to encourage birds in your garden to come home to roost!

Organised by the British Trust for Ornithology, or BTO, the week is an important one for all the brilliant birds we have in the UK, from Robins to Owls!

The idea behind the week is to get us all to put up nest boxes in our local areas, not only to protect the wildlife we already have, but to encourage even more birds to brood in our backyards!

National Nest Box Week started in 1997.  As more trees are cut down, birds lose their homes, so putting up boxes is a great way of helping our winged friends – and it’s thought there’s now between 5 to 6 million boxes across the UK!

And don’t worry if, like me, you’ve never put up a bird box before.  At the official National Nest Box Week website, there are lots of hints and tips to get you started, as well as information on how to monitor the box and see what kind of wildlife you’re likely to attract!  And, by visiting the website you can find out more about the events taking place up and down the country during the week.

I didn’t realise that different types of boxes will attract different types of birds.  For example, small holes in nest boxes will attract the Blue Tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch and House Sparrow.  Large boxes with holes will attract Starlings, the Greater Spotted Woodpecker and even the Little Owl.  Open fronted boxes will attract the Robin and Pied Wagtail and very big boxes attract, amongst others the Kestrel, Jackdaw and Tawny Owl.

So, you can either make your own nest box, or follow the link at the official site and buy a ready made box and set it up in your garden.  Then all you have to do is wait patiently and see what happens next …