I built a little bird box last year and stuck a cheap IP camera in there.

A few months ago a family moved in, and then the eggs hatched a couple of days ago.

Story below:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/25LHjhz]bird cam 1[/url] by J T, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/K1po5j]bird cam 2[/url] by J T, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/275kynd]bird cam 3[/url] by J T, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/24oBR5y]bird cam 4[/url] by J T, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/24oBR4m]bird cam 5[/url] by J T, on Flickr

I’ve got a birdbox which will be hung up as soon as I’ve pointed the wall it’s going on.

Didn’t think of putting a camera in, thanks for the inspiration!

The camera I used was one of these: https://www.gearbest.com/ip-cameras/pp_668299.html?wid=1433363

They’re not weather proof, but it seems to be fine as the bird box is pretty water tight, I’ve put strips of an old inner tube along the edges of the roof to help keep the rain out.

Great.

love watching the blue tits in my neighborurs box. The chicks are late to hatch this year…..we’ll be on magpie watch when they fledge.

Great.

love watching the blue tits in my neighborurs box. The chicks are late to hatch this year…..we’ll be on magpie watch when they fledge.

I may be able to build a bird box, but I know nothing about birds. There’s loads of magpies near us, what’s the issue with them? Anything I need to do?

If there’s a risk of other species marauding the box, you can get metal plates at appropriate sizes to reinforce the entrance.

https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/nest-box-accessories/nestbox-plate-25mm.html

<h3>How big does the hole need to be?</h3>
The entrance hole size depends on the species you hope to attract:

• 25 mm for blue, coal and marsh tits
• 28 mm for great tits, tree sparrows and pied flycatchers
• 32 mm for house sparrows and nuthatches
• 45 mm for starlings.

Read more at https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/how-you-can-help-birds/nestboxes/nestboxes-for-small-birds/making-and-placing-a-bird-box#loFI2WXWrP7Jcm03.99

Fantastic!

Really want to encourage birds into our new garden when we finally move in. Old house was surrounded by cat owners..

Nice tits.

Lovely!  We’ve got blue tits nesting in our cavity wall, :-/

Looks like a hole was drilled for a toilet overflow which was never installed.  Nice to know we’ve given them a home, just wish it hadn’t been there!

Not quite sure what to do about it once they’ve left.   How messy are they?

The magpies here sit on the roof and pick the chicks off as they show themselves. They divebombed the blackbirds nest last year and took 3 chicks. Doreen(80y/o neighbour)& I became human scaremagpies as the blue tits fledged. I counted five last year.

I put the larsen trap out yesterday. There’s far fewer magpies here than last year fortunately.

Ive got about 6 or 7 boxes up and all fairly sheltered so hopefully protected from predators.