Day 113 - Building a Nest Box and National Nest Box Week

A nest box we bought in our apple
tree with a roosting pouch
full of nest material

Hi all, today's Day 113 and to mark the end of National Nest Box Week I thought I'd make a Nest Box. It was really fun to do and I hope to get some lovely little birds in the box. So, what did
I need?

• The first and most important thing was some instructions. I've put some links below to some websites that have instructions on them.

                RSPB - How To Build a Nest Box

                Wildlife Watch - How To Build a Nest Box

I've hung nest materials around the
garden too

• A plank of wood to make the actual box out of. This needs to be 150mm wide, 15-25mm thick and from 1350mm-1600mm long depending on the pattern you use.

• Something for a hinge. We used some old strong kitchen carpet (Flotex) but you could use an actual hinge or a piece of rubber.

• Some tacks for the hinge and some nails/screws.

• Tools - A Hammer, A Screwdriver, A Tape Measure, A Pencil, A Set Square, A Drill and A Saw.

• A grown up! I couldn't find one so I had to get Dad lol :-)

So, how did I go about doing it? Rather than put lots of text down, although I will put a summary below, I made a little video:

Building a Nest Box

It was quite simple really. I had to measure out on the wood the bits that would make up the box. A good tip to save time is to write on which panel is which. Then Dad came in handy and he used his big saw to cut up the pieces including some which needed to be cut at angles. After that it was just a case of drilling pilot holes and screwing the pieces together. 

Finished and in place

The hole at the front has to be high up and you can choose what size you make it to attract different types of birds. I did a 25mm hole which should be great for blue tits. coal tits and marsh tits.

Last job was to put it up. Dad helped again here as it had to be at least 2m up. The RSPB have a page on siting the boxes so it's best for the birds, it has to be facing between North and East so we found a nice wall to put it on.

All done! Now just to wait and see if we get any birds that want to use it. I'll keep you updated.

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.