Wood is arguably the best choice for making your own nest-boxes. Conversely, on warmer days, you need the nest box to stay relatively cool to stop eggs and chicks overheating. You want the nest box to keep the eggs/chicks relatively warm for a period when the adult bird leaves to find food. Choose a good insulator: the other thing to think about when choosing a material is its insulating properties.Avoid potentially toxic materials: some man-made materials may seem ideal for nest-box construction, but you need to be sure they don’t contain substances that could leach into the box over time and prove toxic to birds, their eggs or their chicks.However, there are a couple of things you need to consider when choosing material to make nest boxes. As long as it’s roughly the right size and shape, has the right opening, and provides the conditions they need, they’re not that fussy. What should I make my nest box out of?īirds don’t really care what you make your nest-box out of. These kinds of boxes are suitable for species that typically build nests in shrubs and hedgerows: garden birds like robins, wagtails, wrens and, if you’re lucky, summer visitors like the spotted flycatcher will all use open-fronted nest-boxes. These are essentially the same as the hole-entrance nest boxes, but instead of a single entry hole, the top section of the front panel is removed completely to provide a large opening. The other style of box most commonly used in gardens is the open-fronted nest box. A 45mm entrance hole will attract larger hole-nesters like Starlings.A 32mm entrance hole will accommodate the slightly chunkier House Sparrow.A 28mm entrance hole will work for the larger Great Tit.
Hole-entrance nest-boxes suit birds that naturally nest in cavities in old trees, or perhaps gaps in stone walls or in the eaves of buildings. These are the typical nest-boxes you’ll find for sale in garden centres and online. Hole entrance nest-boxes, as the name suggests, have a single small entrance hole cut out of the front panel. By encouraging birds to stay in and around our gardens during the breeding season, we get to watch their comings and goings, and the connection with nature The principal goal of providing nest boxes is to help the birds, of course, but there’s a benefit for us too. So one of the best ways we can help bird populations in our gardens is to provide them with alternatives.
The simple fact is that, thanks to people, there are less natural nesting locations available for birds. Much of this population decline is down to habitat degradation, due largely to changes in the way we manage and use land. Populations of many of Ireland’s bird species are in sharp decline, even for some of our most familiar garden birds. On this page we’ve gathered some links and resources to help you provide nest boxes for your garden birds. After feeding our garden birds, the next best way we can help them is to provide them with safe sites to nest and bring up their young.
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