Monday 25 March 2013

A matching pair...

Well nearly!

Last March we blogged about the Black Redstarts nesting in a hole in our eaves and at the time Tim suggested before we block up the hole we put up a 'robin' type nestbox.

Well I eventually got around to producing not one but two!

The first was attached adjacent to the hole in the eaves.
The hole was closed with a screwed block of wood! 

The second nestbox was placed a little higher which involved the use of my roof ladder. No pictures on the grounds of health and safety!!.

The main reason for putting it there is that last year something made a nest in the gap on top of the beam that the box is screwed to!  But I have now created an even bigger ledge on top of the nestbox, so we will see what happens. We hope that both nestboxes will be used this year but as yet we have had no sightings of the Black Redstarts.

We have a good number (circa 50) of self seeded small Laurel bushes in both of our front borders. They have grown since we chopped down the Leylandii. I suspect  the seeds are from the birds eating the fruits from our already extensive Laurel hedges. 
 
So if you want any number of these please let us know and we will arrange a "dig your own" party...



4 comments:

Susan said...

Our Black Redstarts are here, but not showing any inclination to nest yet.

Tim said...

Ours too... but "just chillin'"as well.
Like the high nest site...

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Interestingly when Colin looked out of the front window after posting this blog, there was a black redstart on the gate post.... It was probably wondering why last year's hole was blocked up!

Diane said...

Our Redstarts always pick difficult places. Last year their nest was built on top of our fork and spade handles in the outside room where the oil tank for our heating is. It did make digging in the garden difficult for sometime! Have a good week Diane