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Over the past few years, I’ve been lucky enough to have received two nest boxes that are fitted with cameras. These have taken their place among the other nest boxes of various designs I’ve made available to our garden birds, but it seems that although one of these has provided a slightly warmer place to roost during cold winter nights, it hasn’t managed to convince the ‘squatter’ to set up home.

The nest box in question is fitted with a camera that draws its power from a low-voltage power source located in the garage. As a result, the camera gets ever so slightly warm, which must provide a welcome change on cold winter nights because, throughout the winter, a blue tit could be seen each night, puffed up in a small feathery ball in the corner of this particular box. As soon as the morning arrives, the overnight resident heads out for the day only to return later that evening. But when it comes to setting up a more permanent home and maybe even raising a family, the location seemingly doesn’t come up to scratch.

On the other side of the garden is a slightly newer nest box also fitted with a camera, but a solar panel powers this one, so it uses a lot less power and, as a result, doesn’t seem to get warm. The birds seem to have cottoned on to this and have roundly ignored it over the winter other than for the occasional brief viewing. As spring got closer, a blue tit did seem to show quite a lot of interest, so much so that I had to adjust the settings on my phone to stop being inundated with notifications that the camera had detected another viewing. It didn’t help that a large wasp also seemed to find the nest box of interest. But despite all of this activity, nothing seems to be happening.

I know that the beginning of April means that it is early days and that there is every chance that a family of blue tits will occupy one or other, or even both, of the nest boxes before the end of the season. But so far, it isn’t looking hopeful. While all this is going on, a pair of great tits have decided to build a nest in a nearby bog-standard wooden nest box without a camera just a few meters away. The pair are working hard gathering nest materials, so I’m hopeful that they will stick with this location and safely raise a family. But if they do, it will be away from the prying eyes of the cameras.

Have they chosen the box because it was not ‘overlooked’ or, as I suspect, they like the idea of the ivy growing close to and around the nest box coupled with its location and orientation. Whatever the reason, it seems that while the local birds are happy to overwinter in the slightly warmer accommodation on offer, they are not sufficiently happy with what is on offer to make their stay more permanent.

It just goes to prove how the slightest thing can dissuade nesting birds from choosing a location, and there are so many variables that need to be taken into consideration by them. The fact that we have a pair of birds nesting at all is good to see; it’s just a shame that they like to keep their family life private!

© Phil Pickin