Hi (1 Viewer)

[eileenT]

I'm Eileen. Me and my husband have had a well established blue tit box for years and the last 3 years have been a disaster. Both patents coming and going regularly but haven't seen them for 2 days. We checked the box and all 7 babies have died. Last year the parents abandoned the 4 chick's and we had to ring rspca, the year before (2020) all chick's died. Having had success for at lest 8 years previously, we are wondering if there is anything we can do to help them. Do we need a new box? Maybe insulate it a bit? We are running out of ideas. Thanks for any advice. BTW. Box is on the back of the house, facing north and no previous trouble with it.

 

[delia todd]

Hi Eileen and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. It's so sad to hear you've had so many nest failures recently. Last Spring was exceptionally bad for Blue Tits with the long cold wet weather and the lack of caterpillars to feed the nestlings. Many nests were lost. I don't know what's going on this year but many people are reporting that the chicks have died.

There are so many possible reasons, from lack of food, disturbance, one or both adults being predated by cats or sparrowhawks etc. being hit by cars, flying into windows. Casualties are many in the best of years and this is one reason why Blue Tits have lay so many eggs, as they only need to successfully rear one fledgling each in their life time to ensure the population stays stable.

Let's hope they have better luck next time.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[Chris G6 UXU]

Hello Eileen and welcome to the forum, enjoy and all the best.

 

[KC Foggin]

Welcome a board Eileen and sorry to hear about your Blue Tits (;

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum.

Nest boxes should face south east.

 

[ClarkWGriswold]

Hi Eileen and welcome to BirdForum.

Rich

 

[Lisa W]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about the nest box.

 

[Fritz73]

Hola Eileen! Welcome to Birdforum