natural nest boxes

[mark smyth]

hi all

Some birds have young already while some are still thinking about it. I bought some birch log nest boxes this week that look great. So cheep at only £5. They arrive by return post so if you have thought about it but never acted it's not too late. Available from CJ Wildfood
http://www.birdfood.co.uk/product_details.php?area_id=2&group_id=10&nav_id=140&prd_id=385

[mark smyth]

Another nest box arrived today for our garden friends

[Armin]

Another nest box arrived today for our garden friends

Mark and all others,
the company Schwegler offers all kind of nest boxes. Also for bats...
http://http://www.schwegler-nature.com/
brgds

[mark smyth]

I have three Schwegler nest boxes on my house, one friend has four and another has one

[Armin]

I have three Schwegler nest boxes on my house, one friend has four and another has one

Mark, it seems you are very familiar with. Not much to add.
I built my next boxes by my own using wood boards. In the past I also made some out of wood sharings and concrete. But to pour them in form makes a lot of efforts. But they are more long lasting and robust compared to wood board ones.

I've 10 around my house & garden. Regularly breeders are sparrows, country sparrows, starlings, great tits, blue tits and house redstarts.
Now sparrows and redstarts are extremely busy defending each territories. Males swarming around, hunting females... It's a great pleasure to observe what's going on.
brgds

[mark smyth]

I should have added that they are for Common Swifts Apus apus.

[mark smyth]

I'm familiar with them all except country sparrows and house redstarts

[Maggi Young]

I'll make a guess at "country sparrows" being tree sparrows.
We don't get any Redstarts in this part ofthe country

[mark smyth]

I thought along the same lines. The house redstart may be the black redstart phoenicurus ochruros

[Anthony Darby]

That's the problem with trying to fit English names to species.

[David Shaw]

Once in Germany we were asked if we had seen the 'Eise Vogle'(Ice Bird). After much discusion this turned out to be a Kingfisher!

[Anthony Darby]

That's fair enough, and names are often applied to similar birds in different countries where they are "divided by a common language". I showed a Robin to a visitor from New York and he just gasped at how small it was (in NY a Robin is a large 'thrush' whereas in the UK it is a small 'chat' - a point lost on the makers of the film "Mary Poppins", but then poor Cruella de Ville wasn't to know there would be Skunks and Racoons in dear old England when she signed up for '101 Dalmations'); in Jamaica a Robin is a small green bird with a red breast, the Jamaican Tody (Todus todus), and sometimes called "Robin Redbreast", according to James Bond in his book "Birds of the West Indies" (Collins, 1960). And why not?

The problem lies when names are translated. Looking up the two Redstarts found in the UK (as migrants), the Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) seems to prefer holes in walls whereas the Redstart (P. phoenicurus) prefers holes in trees, hence 'House Redstart'(?). Both will use nest boxes. The Black Redstart doesn't breed north of the midlands but, during the summer, is found up the east coast as far as Aberdeenshire. The Redstart is found right up to the north of Scotland as a breeding bird, but not on the east coast north of Dundee and, curiously, not Ireland at all (AA/RSPB "The Complete Book of British Birds" 1994).

[mark smyth]

The Tody is sooooo cute http://www.kingsnake.com/westindian/todustodus3.JPG

[Maggi Young]

Went to RSPB site to find out more about assorted Redstarts !
Found these maps which I pinched from here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/index.asp
Redstart, only a summer visitor




Black Redstart, fewer than 100 breeding pairs in the UK


coloured areas show where bird is found as a resident ( very rare), as a summer or winter visitor or in passage.....point is, lots of white, ie, no redstarts, near me!   Perhaps they'll get here eventually!

[Anthony Darby]

My mistake, the Black redstart is a winter visitor to Scotland. [http://blx1.bto.org/atlases/BX-atlas.html]. My book doesn't distinguish between summer and winter migrants.