Cleaning a nestbox - Deep Cliff Wood, Harden, February 2015
While we clean the nestboxes we also check to see if any have been used in the previous breeding season, and by which species. The results for the previous years can be found here: 2012 and 2013. The contents of the nestboxes this time will be from the 2014 breeding season.
Here’s a full list of what we found this year:
Box number
|
What we found
|
1
|
Bird poo!
|
2
|
Partially-built Great Tit nest.
|
3
|
Probable Nuthatch nest
|
4
|
Empty and clean
|
5
|
Bird poo!
|
6
|
Empty, though with some grass and poo
|
7
|
Empty and clean
|
8
|
Complete Blue Tit nest
|
9
|
Empty and clean
|
10
|
Partially-built nest
|
11
|
Empty and clean
|
12
|
Bird poo!
|
23
|
Complete Coal Tit nest
|
DJM
|
Complete Blue Tit nest
|
The results are very similar to previous years, with at least three completed nests and two partially-built nests. Box 23 had our first Coal Tit nest. For the first time, we didn't find any unhatched/failed eggs.
The most interesting find was in box 3. The bottom of the box was filled with bark and soft, dry, rotten wood from a silver birch - up to a depth of 50mm (about 2"). The most likely candidate for this nest is the Nuthatch, which we have seen and heard plenty of in the surrounding woodland. Let's hope they come back and nest again this year.
Nuthatch (photo Stephen Lilley)
We also found this discarded bottle full of moss in the wood. The moss, which would normally struggle to find sunlight under all the fallen leaves, had grown in the bottle - using it like a greenhouse.
Moss growing in a milk bottle - Deep Cliff Wood, Harden, February 2015
Because the bottle was on top of the leaves, the moss could have as much sunlight as it needed; while the bottle created a moist micro-climate, just as the moss prefers. It's amazing what nature can do!
