Build a Nest Box for Birds and Biodiversity in Your Garden this Spring
With the spring breeding season fast approaching now is the ideal time to get bird nest boxes in place in your garden or on your farm. To assist with this, BirdWatch Ireland has teamed up with the Heritage Officer network to have proven nest box designs illustrated to help you build suitable accommodation for our feathered friends. Three illustrated DIY posters have been created including designs for a range of garden birds from Robins to tits and Spotted Flycatchers, in addition a design for an outdoor Barn Owl box and a bat roost box have been included to encourage more biodiversity to gardens and farms throughout the country.
Birds have evolved over time from nesting in cavities in trees and other naturally occurring niches to also nesting in man-made structures and nest boxes we have provided for them. It’s great for us because we can attract them to our gardens to nest and observe them all the way from selecting a nest site, nest building, laying and incubation to feeding the young and finally with luck, fledging! Nest boxes however are not just for our enjoyment, they can be an important conservation tool helping to provide much needed nest sites for species who struggle to find more natural nest sites such as Barn Owls!
As the BirdWatch Ireland motto states “protecting birds and biodiversity” we have also illustrated plans for a bat roost box. The “Kent” bat box is a proven and easy to build roost box that can accommodate a number of roosting bats and be mounted on walls or trees easily depending on the local circumstance.
The illustrations provide information on the installation of the boxes to ensure you get them in the right position after making a big effort to build them. We hope you have lots of fun building them and are rewarded with residents this coming spring. Good luck with the DIY!
The nest box designs can be downloaded from the BirdWatch Ireland Website here.