Bluetit Diary    Jan 2003 (1)

 

 

Wednesday 1st January, 2003

There are no trees to be pollarded this year so there is nothing to disturb the local bluetits' investigations of our nest boxes.  These have both been cleaned out and their insides scalded with boiling water to kill off any residual mites.

We have had a few queries about what to do with a nest box at the end of the season.  The following advice has been posted by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.  We feel that the message about not removing eggs is VERY IMPORTANT!  If you look back to what happened to Box2 last year (2002 Summary) you can see that the 8th egg was laid on April 17th and the 9th not until May 5th, that is eighteen days later!  And yet a total of 6 eggs hatched within 24 hours of which at least three must have been laid before this gap.  We thought the first set of eggs had been deserted, but if we had removed them, quite apart from breaking the law, we would have been destroying viable eggs!!


Advice on the Annual Cleaning of Nestboxes posted by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

After the end of each breeding season, all nestboxes should be taken down and the old nesting materials removed, and the box should be scalded with boiling water to kill any parasites. Do not use insecticides or flea-powders - boiling water is adequate. Annual cleaning is best carried out in October or November. 

Under the terms of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, if unhatched eggs are found in the box, they can only legally be removed from October to January inclusive, and they must be destroyed! It is illegal to keep them. 
http://www.tinyurl.com/jbrupw7/


Already we have noticed a bird going into Box1 and on one occasion managed to take a picture of it.  Unfortunately, the internal light was not working at the time so the picture is somewhat disappointing.  Fortunately, the problem with the light was simply a loose bulb, but it demonstrated to us the difficulty we would have if we had to change a bulb with a nest full of young chicks inside!

The almost continual rain we have had this autumn has left Box1 looking permanently damp.  In fact it is not, but the wood is now stained so that it looks damp even when quite dry.  Let us hope potential tenants are not misled!

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