At the beginning of March, we had our @greenfeathers nest box cameras delivered, the ones we chose are solar and WiFi, this meant they required positioning close enough to the house for the WiFi to be detected, but also ensuring the solar panels could gain enough sunlight to power the camera.
On the 27th March we had scheduled Epic Tree Care, a local company to come and do some maintenance on our trees, also to fit the nest boxes at the same time. It was an extremely wet day, but Epic turned up bright and early, keen and eager to get cracking with the work.
We have two full nest box camera kits from Green Feathers one set up for Sparrows and the other with a slightly smaller hole for smaller birds such as Blue tits. Everything you need to get up and running is in the box.
All up and working, we were ready for our new habitants to take up residency, fingers crossed, hoping they would like their new homes.
We didn’t have long to wait as on the morning of the 28th we had our first viewing, good morning Mrs Blue Tit, we hope you like your prospective new home? However she had chosen the one with the slightly larger opening, this was meant for the Sparrows, but not to worry let’s see what happens.
On the 30th March the first sight of nesting material being brought into their home, it appears Mrs Blue Tit approves of their new home, with nesting material being brought in regularly up to the 7th April.
However not all clean cut for our lovely Blue tits, we have an intruder in the nest box!!
Hello Mrs Tree Sparrow, let’s call her Tasha, clearly she also likes the new home, and thanks to Mrs Blue Tit there’s already a welcome pack waiting for her, in the form of the nesting material the Blue tits had brought in.
Mrs Blue tit popped back a few times on the 7th April, but the Tree sparrows eventually took up full residency in their new home, Mrs Blue tit popped back in on the 12th April but has not been back since.
Since the 12th April the tree sparrows have been extremely busy building their nest, I don’t think it will be too long before we see some eggs! if they leave a large enough hole to view them!!
We will post regular updates on their progress, and hopefully, we will see some little chicks very soon.
Question is, do I replace the smaller plate with another larger one and see if we get further Tree sparrows?
Tasha and Tommy Tree Sparrow in their new home
A little bit about the nest boxes and solar cameras, they arrived very well packaged although a little work is required to put the cameras in the nest box and install them.
This is a simple process, firstly put the camera on charge for 24 hours, with the cable that is included in the kit, along with the solar panel, ensures that there is plenty of charge once it is installed.
Then unscrew the top two pieces of wood on the front of the box, install the camera with the fixings included in the box, and ensure you feed the wire through the back of the box, this will then connect to the solar panel, replace the front plates, choose the appropriate size plate for the birds you are hoping to attract.
You are then ready to install your bird box in the appropriate place ensuring you have WiFi connectivity before you secure it safely.
Then patiently wait for your new prospective homeowners 😊