Internal boxes with entrances fashioned from an air brick liner

From many points of view, built in nest-boxes are to be preferred to those hung on the outside of a wall, particularly if placed high up in a gable end within a roof-space. The nestboxes are secure, out of the sun and rain, and they provide a minimum of visual impact to the building. Although very easy to incorporate while a building is being put up, it is also not that difficult to retrofit them, but it does require some level of building skill. We have documented 2 examples here and here. 

[Postscript July 2015: A pair has raised 2 chicks in the the right hand box. The pair in the external heat-proof box has again raised 2 chicks]

The original double-walled external nest box and entrances to 3 new internal nest boxes

Model 400 air brick liner 220 x 200 x 65mm

Here is another idea using entrances made out of an air brick liner - this time the model 400 on page 10 of this PDF. This air brick liner has a hole 30mm high.

We previously described the success of a single, heat-proof nest box on the outside of Judith Wakelam's bungalow in Worlington. As Judith wished to have more nest boxes we decided to build 3 nestboxes inside the attic, rather than add more outside on this south-facing gable end.

Entrance fabrication

The air brick was cut up with an angle grinder, then the 3 component pieces were glued together with a resin glue, suitable for stonework. One can get at least 4 entrances out of 1 air brick liner.

A hole was made in the outer wall by removing 50mm from each side of a vertical bond in the brickwork, leaving a space big enough for half a brick - the size of the entrance piece. This can be done very neatly by drilling a hole through the mortar then using a sabre saw to cut the brick.

Bill Murrells installing the entrances. Photo Judith Wakelam

In this case, the inner wall was made of concrete blocks, so we chose to replace the height of a block with a nest-box, abutted against the outer wall with a waterproof membrane between the box and the wall. Alternatively, we could have used a 100mm core drill to make a hole in the inner wall providing access through a 100mm pipe to the nest box which would be hung on the inner wall.

Bill finishing off the installation. Photo Judith Wakelam

The nest boxes were made of weather-proof plywood. The removable wooden backs conceal a perspex 'window' to provide direct viewing when any birds become established.

Each box was fitted with a soft fibre-board nest concave.



#inserts #Cambridge

Bird Atlas 2007-11: what does it say about Swifts?

The preface to this monumental work says that this book will set the agenda for bird conservation for the next 20 years. We are therefore interested to see what it says about Swifts, in particular what has happened since the previous Atlases in 1968-72 and 1988-91?
Perhaps the most important takeway is that Swifts have been declining for at least 40 years, something not brought out in more recent datasets.

Click maps to enlarge

The Breeding Distribution Map shows all those 10km squares in which at least 1 pair of Swifts was found possibly, probably or proved breeding. Swifts breed in virtually every square apart from north and west Scotland, and the western part of Ireland. 

If one compared it with the equivalent map for 1988-91, it would appear similar because relatively few squares have completely lost, or gained Swifts in the intervening years. However, the two maps below reveal more clearly what has actually been going on.


 

The Breeding Relative Abundance Change Map gives a graphical representation in the change in occupied tetrads in each 20km square between the two Atlases. Red signifies an increase, blue a decrease: the darker the colour the bigger the change.

This map shows that rather more squares decreased in this measure than increased. 

Though the overall pattern is one of decline, there are some areas of good news, including southern Ireland in a country where overall there have been the most decreases.

The Breeding Distribution Change Map highlights those 10km squares that have completely lost or gained breeding Swifts since the previous two Atlases in 1968-72 and 1988-91. A black triangle means a loss, a red triangle means a gain. A small triangle signifies the change since 1968-72 and a large triangle since 1988-91. 

There are far more losses than gains. It is clear that Swifts have been losing ground for at least the last 40 years, As one might expect, the losses are concentrated in those areas where Swifts are more sparsely distributed, particularly Ireland, parts of Wales and north and western Scotland. 

A low density population is more likely to disappear than a higher one. It is on the edges of a species distribution where change is most obvious. 

So the Atlas is telling the same story as the Breeding Bird Census and the trends in BirdTrack reporting rates. It is helpful that there is no ambiguity in the trends determined by these three BTO datasets, it means conservation decisions can be made with there being little doubt about what the data is telling us.

You can read more about the Atlas, with an excellent promotional video here

Acknowledgements
Thank you to Dawn Balmer and the BTO for permission to publish these maps.

Reference
Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B. J., Swann, R. L., Downie, I. S. & Fuller, R. J. 2013. Bird Atlas 2007-11: The breeding and wintering birds of Britain and Ireland. BTO Books, Thetford.